08.06.07
Mr. Shuttleworth Calls Microsoft’s Actions What They Are — Extortion (Updated)
Well done, Mark. Here is what he had to say to eWeek about Microsoft’s patent claims.
“That’s extortion and we should call it what it is,” he said. “To say, as Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet liability, that’s just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that game. On the other side, if Microsoft is concerned about its intellectual property, there is no one in the free software community that wants to violate anyone’s IP. Disclose the patents and we’ll fix the code. Alternatively, move on.”
Here is what Mark said a few months ago:
Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won’t say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: “It’s an unsafe neighbourhood, why don’t you pay me 20 bucks and I’ll make sure you’re okay,” that’s illegal. It’s racketeering. What Microsoft is doing with intellectual property is exactly the same. It’s a great company and I have great admiration for it, but this was not a well considered position.
Microsoft has already explained why it cannot provide specific details. Are you ready for their explanation? Well, Microsoft says it’s too much paperwork. Do you believe Microsoft?
Update: There’s more as Mark continues to shoot from the lip. Dana has a good summary, but sadly he turns this into a political debate (which it is not).
MattD said,
August 7, 2007 at 11:17 am
Dana Blankenhorn of ZDNet is retarded. His “analysis” of Shuttleworth’s statements is a “spin” (and not a very good one) regarding Linux that I’ve never heard before.
It was important for this writer to point out that Ubuntu is not a US-based Linux distribution. It was important for this “writer” to use words like un-american. The article reads like it was written by a racist, a xenophobe and an MS Troll.
Most of the comments on this article echoed this sentiment, which I was happy to see.
Given the buzz surrounding Ubuntu specifically and Linux in general (Dell, Acer and now Lenovo), I think we can expect many more trollish articles and responses. I was just surprised (and perhaps naive) that anyone could write something as sick as Dana Blankenhorn wrote in his article…
Roy Schestowitz said,
August 7, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I agree with you, Matt. I also said this here when I first spotted that item:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/browse_thread/thread/a5829321025afb64/2d812354755c8e0d