I and a lot of people who aren't fans of MS (I personally don't hate them, I just happen to use Windows XP Pro till I get a new Mac) have never claimed that they stole IP. Stop trying to put the raggedy ass script kiddies in our camp. You're pathetic if you think that we respect or agree with them on just about anything.
On that note Scott, if you want to be less of a target for the "cut-and-paste" script kiddies that you railed about why don't you stop trolling. Your trolling attracts script kiddies like sharks to a crashed oil tanker filled with blood. Another thing lest I forget, rather than trying to drag MIT's reputation through the mud, why don't you take up your issues with their doctoral program with the appropriate people there.
Linux is already begining to diverge into two separate kernel forks - Torvalds' and Cox's. I thought ESR claimed such forking was bad and would never happen?
http://ftp.us.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/alan/linux-2.4/2.4.19/ seems to be full of patches. You know, patches? Not full kernel distributions. Maybe you should check out the FTP repository at kernel.org next time.
It's easy for to blame Microsoft for anything because they are a public company, but what happens in the Open Souce Happy-FunLand future when a cyber terrorist organization opens a back door embedded deep within the Linux code and selectively takes down every server in America? Don't give me a "but that would never happen" response - who do you BLAME? The hacker or Linus?
And you think a company that made an OS that could be taken down by sending corrupt data to a certain port (it's called a WinNuke) can be trusted? Your argument can be applied to any homogenous environment, especially a Windows one.
If the answer is the hacker, why not blame the hacker when a "Microsoft bug" is found and exploited?
Because Microsoft made the bug possible and they sold me software that they claimed was highly reliable. In the computer industry Scott, highly reliable means I shouldn't have any problems running mission critical systems with it. I don't see Linus running around making claims about Linux. He may say that he's really confident or he thinks that it is good to go, but I have never seen him personally stick his neck out and say that he can guarantee that your box isn't going to get rooted.
If the answer is to never blame Linus because he doesn't "own" Linux, I think you find the answer to why Linux has no marketshare. No, I'm not throwing out that for shock value - that's the fact originally stated by Ed Zander from Sun Microsystems: "yet Linux has achieved no market share in the industry."
Right. Linux has no marketshare. Seems the sales of Linux-based servers that account for about 25% of all server sales now just end up being thrown in the trash before their opened if we listen to you. Sun is just pissed because it's losing in the low end to Linux and FreeBSD-based systems and that its got growing competition from Apple in the workstation market.
Nader wants Microsoft along with the secondary and tertiary hardware/software industries that have been created around them destroyed by government intervention. Nader's got it wrong - If Linux is better, let the Linux companies turn on the marketing charm and convince customers to pay for it... That's the bottom line.
And this coming from the guy that likes the idea of not having a "transparent" internet. What about human rights activists in China? Oh good idea. Let's make it easier for the PRC to uncover their identities! Hate to break it to you, but anonymity exists only because of logistics in most cases. If you don't understand why that is then I've wasted my time even replying to you.
This quote says it all, folks. Anyone who has read my columns know I'm the man who along with author David Brin has called for more transparency on the Internet to protect all web surfers. Who wants to take a bet that there will be a smarmy reply to this post about the loss of freedoms, the destruction of choice because of corporate rule and other New World Order hyperbole?
Honestly, do you know anyone that knows it all who doesn't have to get in the last word on something like this? C'mon, it's easy money to take this bet...