How to Handle Microsoft's Unhealthy Obsession with GNU/Linux

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-19 10:41:06 UTC
Modified: 2007-11-19 10:41:06 UTC

Isn't knowledge everybody's friend?

It ought to be clear by now that Microsoft has become over-obsessed with Linux, and rightly so. Looking at internal Microsoft documents, it is clear that Microsoft wants Free software (including Linux) dead. We have provided links and text in the past in order to support this assertion. Even filings which are visible to stake holders have had Linux listed as a most major threat to Microsoft's core business.

Microsoft takes no passive stance. It does not pursue further success only by improving its own products. It has already responded with SCO-esque action that involves intimidation, extortion (yes, they secretly charge money for mythical patents), and more.

”Money can change laws, make bigots, and change perceptions.“Since Microsoft is concerned about Linux and also acts intolerably towards its future existence as a free platform, it would only be natural to keep an eye on Microsoft. Not understanding what Microsoft intends to do to Linux and Free software is a case of being completely blind to one's greatest threat. It is a case of exposing oneself. No company other than Microsoft has spent so much time and money fighting Linux (not even SCO).

In reality, not analysing the issues at hands, including the patent strategy, is the path to the destruction of Linux as we know it. Money can change laws, make bigots, and change perceptions. With the recent patent deals, for example, that money is already doing a lot of legwork, so to speak.

As far as mobile devices go (Linux has excellent presence and growth in that area), Microsoft hopes to 'tax' embedded Linux, probably per device unit sold. If Linux will ultimately reign this area, which it will, Microsoft can grab a share of revenue it is not entitled to receive. If the cost of embedded Linux becomes high due such 'taxation', Microsoft can suddenly bring more appeal to its Windows-based offerings. There is a good reason why Microsoft signed cross-licensing deals with 4 companies that produce Linux devices. Microsoft explicitly included Linux in the announcements. This changes perceptions and Microsoft sets precedence this way, without ever requiring to produce any evidence (list of patents, for starters). How overly dishonest and uncomplaining.

So, what is next? A patent deal with supercomputing companies? Linux virtually owns 91.8% of this market (assuming top-tier supercomputers are anything to judge by). Microsoft would love to change this using dirty tricks and unprecedented intervention (Novell's deal was a seminal one).

Microsoft has become morbidly obsessed with Linux. If this relationship is reciprocal, then it is probably justified. ⬆

Comments

eet

2007-11-19 11:13:56

How to handle your unhealthy obsession with Microsoft:

Go and read http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/12068_3711871_2 .

Perhaps it will make you understand that Microsoft is just _one_ company; not any more important than IBM. Let it go, Roy.

Note: comment has been flagged for arriving from an abusive Internet troll
John Drinkwater

2007-11-19 14:06:47

How to handle your unhealthy obsession with Boycott Novell…

If you don’t like the content, don’t visit the site. It’s quite simple.
Victor Soliz

2007-11-19 14:20:09

Easy steps for MS to stop our 'irrational hate' towards them

I wouldn't care about Microsoft if they didn't want to mess with Linux and free software, and they actively mess with us, seriously, if they would just stay away we wouldn't be complaining.

BoycottNovell with all its defects is a testimony of one of MS' worst attacks to Linux, an outstanding FUD attack and the wishful thinking to turn it into a paid, proprietary software that requires to pay MS a tax just to work.

Why should we simply ignore that? I would agree with that article you so tirelessly link to if microsoft wasn't so aggressively trying to boycott free, open source Linux. But they are doing so, and if there were no voices denouncing it, the thing would get worse, not better.

Ignoring a problem is not going to make it disappear.

Novell apologists should seriously take a look to what happened with moonlight, I am not sure why there would still be novell fans after that terrible happening.

And as for Microsoft, no, it is not irrational hatred towards MS, it is a report of Microsoft's abuse and attempts to turn Linux into what it isn't. It is also a rebuttal to FUD that actively comes from the MS and Novell front. Neither Microsoft or Novell are ignoring Linux, I don't know why should Linux ignore them.
Doug

2007-11-19 14:52:44

'Microsoft is just _one_ company; not any more important than IBM. Let it go, Roy' eet said

MICROS~1 isn't a single company but a way of doing business ..

01. Buy up competing companies and disappear the technology ..

02. Help create an IP and complience regime such that the smaller developers are forced out of business. Funnel funds to anti-Open Source litigation ..

04. Make vague litigation noises in the press, using samples of 02 as proof of the unsafe nature of non-complient software ..

05. never mention that limits of your own product is ninety days or your money back ..

06. Never mention that the IP protection you provide is against YOU sueing your own customers ..

05. Treaten end-users with litigation unless they use your own covenanted product ..

er .. that's it ....
eet

2007-11-19 17:03:16

This really is obessive guys; go seek professional help.

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SubSonica

2007-11-19 18:10:11

eet We must be really hitting the right "chords" for Microsoft shills to be so concerned as to respond to every post. So lets keep insisiting on denouncing this. The fact you keep taking the work of submitting trolling messages trying to discredit every single post proves we are doing right.
eet

2007-11-19 18:49:57

'The paranoid survive', eh?

Whatever floats your boat, or in this case, keeps your paranoia intact.

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eet

2007-11-19 18:53:43

Matter of fact, I just can't stand trolls like you or dear old Deranger. So, as long as you write correctables, I correct you.

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-19 21:54:24

MICROS~1 isn’t a single company but a way of doing business ..

It's also an ecosystem which strives to drive away anything that might change the status quo.
eet

2007-11-19 22:28:58

Status quo has long changed.

It seems you haven't realized that Linux has become a vast commercial success and a vital economic factor for the IT business.

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TaQ

2007-11-20 11:14:35

Linux has become a vast commercial success and a vital economic factor for the IT business.
That's why we need to be more paranoid now. ;-) GNU/Linux it's not a competitor microsoft can defeat on the technical field, so we need to pay attention on the small and big moves on the ecosystem, before it's too late to have a chance to make something. Let something so important to the politics will not be a good thing. Look how they deal with important things, like, say, war. And it's a war!
Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-20 11:20:18

Indeed, TaQ. I've just found this one:

http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-27501/portugal-will-send-microsoft-to-the-brm

Portugal will send Microsoft to the BRM

"Microsoft, as president of the Portuguese Technical Committee, is already controlling who will be at the BRM for Portugal. The Head of Delegation will be... Microsoft!"

This just comes to show that Microsoft's crusade to kill ODF is far from over and it's still playing dirty. I'll probably blog it tomorrow.
eet

2007-11-20 16:15:50

TaQ: So becoming more paranoid than before, when you had reason to be paranoid, is rational behavior? I would say such logic needs medication... ;)

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SundayRefugee

2007-11-20 20:08:00

eet,

As I remarked on that site, the article you linked to is best summed up as "If someone is beating you to death, turn the other cheek and pretend not to notice, because if you don't, you're an immature jerk". Hardly an attitude conducive to survival ;)

I plan on submitting a detailed rebuttal in the coming days for publication here. I look forward to your comments ;)
eet

2007-11-20 20:47:01

You are so far, far out, man... 8)

So Microsoft is beating you to death; is this the dream you wake up from every night, sweating and screaming?

You have delusions, man, really bad delusion. Is it voices whispering to you; commanding you to try and incite a war in the Linux community?

...

Seek help, but keep the Linux community out of it.

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-20 21:09:09

So Microsoft is beating you to death; is this the dream you wake up from every night, sweating and screaming?
eet

2007-11-20 21:15:59

Novell is Linux, and Linux is you? Blasphemy! 8)

Apart from Novell being alive and prospering one year later...

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-20 21:21:33

That was just an example and you know it. You're dancing around in circles.
eet

2007-11-20 21:35:04

It is always 'just an example', and you always say, you could get better examples if you wanted - but point is, you never do.

You always claim, some link would prove all that you're saying, and if one reads what you're linking to the contents actually don't prove your point at all.

It's all so tedious and trollish. If you haven't got facts, at least admit that you are merely speculating what could be.

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SundayRefugee

2007-11-20 21:40:49

As usual, eet, you speak in strawmen and red herrings.

No, I don't wake up at night screaming.

No, I don't imagine MS is beating me to death. It was an analogy. MS is beating the Linux community to death. Novell is a part of that community. Therefore, by extension, wether they even realize it or not, Novell is the club MS is swinging.

So, to be clear, and cut through the confusion of your continued strawmen: The Linux community is under continuous attack by Microsoft. To ignore this, and let them extinguish US (ALL of us, as a Linux community) is our downfall. To ignore the means they use is to hasten our downfall, and to play into Microsoft's hands.
eet

2007-11-20 21:42:30

God, you ARE paranoid! :eek:

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-20 21:47:14

MS is beating the Linux community to death.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070611082734557

Clubbing baby Linux penguins

"See what I mean? No one accepts Microsoft's story. And no one accepts that the Novell-Microsoft patent deal wasn't a cross license either, I notice. People are not stupid.

So when Microsoft says it respects other people's intellectual property, what everyone is thinking is, That's not true. Microsoft doesn't respect the GPL, and that's other people's property. Microsoft is just trying to kill off a competitor. Again."

Novell enables this.
eet

2007-11-20 21:55:56

Yeahhhs; one paranoid feeding the other... What a heart-warming view.

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SundayRefugee

2007-11-21 01:03:54

Well, I guess you'd care to comment on this, perhaps?

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9793052-16.html

Paranoia, eh? Baseless, you say?
TaQ

2007-11-21 03:32:56

So becoming more paranoid than before, when you had reason to be paranoid, is rational behavior? I would say such logic needs medication… ;)

Eet, no need to medication. Some time ago we were paranoid because we saw what was happening. Then came some "open source, mature, corporate" guys and told us "hey, it's ok, we don't need to stay this way" and we, oh boy, so naive, trusted them for some months and there we are, all this mess around us now. We need to restore our parainod level and try to fix some stuff before they break it more.

So Microsoft is beating you to death; is this the dream you wake up from every night, sweating and screaming?
Your imagination reveal us some aspects of your mind. ;-)

Seek help, but keep the Linux community out of it.
That's a curious thing. I can't remember some post here telling about the "Linux community" as a whole represented by this site. We can't do that, because there's a huge community out there and here we're just a few writing what we think about all this microsoft stuff, BUT if you were not in a coma since the 80's (if so, yes, that thing you saw is Michael Jackson) or search about this you'll find more people that agree with us on this community than the kind of "hey, I love Linux but think microsoft is cool and is not a danger" guys. I think we can't speak for the whole community, and by "we" I mean you also. ;-)

If you haven’t got facts, at least admit that you are merely speculating what could be.
Seems that some people lives on a detective movie more than they think we live. The "facts" must be pictures, recordings, movies or something that can't be denied, as on the Dick Tracy stories?

Wake up. Those kind of things are from the last century, today they aren't so solid. Even if we have some evidence like that today, if someone wants to believe it's fake, the discussion will be pointless. What you want as a fact, a paper signed by gates to ballmer years ago telling him "Exterminate free software on each possible way you can. Love, bill"? :-) Please seat down and wait, if they don't make a HUGE mistake you'll never see something like that.

Today corporations are more careful about their secrets, we don't have time our resources to be detectives on the old way but we can see what the history tell us on past and we can see how the things are done on the present.

one paranoid feeding the other
I'd like to be called a paranoid for discuss and warn about these kind of things now than stupid to refuse to believe at least a little that there is something very wrong and give a chance to something very bad happen on the future. A lot to lose for so few to do now. So, let's give us some years and see what happens. Please give us a way to contact you later. :-)

If you are not concerned with all that, not a problem, dude, go drink a beer and don't waste your time with us, let's see what happens. If you're concerned with us at some level that you'll try to stay calling us paranoid for the rest of time, a) you're a masochist b) you work for Microsoft c) you're having a good time here or d) you have a lot of free time and really like us on some sick way :-)
eet

2007-11-21 10:59:21

d) that would be Roy, judging from the immense amount of sh** he's writing...

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-21 11:08:04

Writing, not responding to (the ad hominem way).
eet

2007-11-21 21:20:19

[quote=TaQ]Wake up. Those kind of things are from the last century, today they aren’t so solid. [/quote] Poor thing, you live in a world without facts; it must be hard for you to get around just by guessing. Sad, for you the age of enlightenment, da Vinci, Rousseau, Descartes, and yes, Machiavelli, was just a waste of time, eh?

You are back on your own in the middle-ages, guessing with metaphysics and trying with alchemy.

[quote]Even if we have some evidence like that today, if someone wants to believe it’s fake, the discussion will be pointless.[/quote] No, it would be a success for your conspiracy-loving mind if you _had_ any evidence that someone could question; but the sad thing is you haven't even produced that.

You and your likes are just a sect; a bunch of pseudo-religious weirdos of FOSS, and nobody wants to play with you.

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TaQ

2007-11-21 22:33:50

Poor thing, you live in a world without facts; it must be hard for you to get around just by guessing.
Ouch, I'm trying to guess how you turn on the corner without being sure that you'll not hit somebody coming from the other side. Do you stuck and wait to somebody comes from the other side and ask them if you can turn? You live on a world of facts and not experimentation, you need some facts to do that! :-)

Sad, for you the age of enlightenment, da Vinci, Rousseau, Descartes, and yes, Machiavelli, was just a waste of time, eh?
A wise guy on the last century told us that "imagination is more important than knowledge". A lot of his theories were just proved years later when we got the tools to do that. When he made them he just was using his imagination and intuition. Oh, his name was Albert Einstein.

No, it would be a success for your conspiracy-loving mind if you _had_ any evidence that someone could question; but the sad thing is you haven’t even produced that.
You can't tell who wons a race till it ends, so we don't have any results now. At least we're taking our chances on some horses. :-)

nobody wants to play with you.
I don't know if you noticed but with each comment you post here you're playing more and more with us, and as I said before, seems that you're enjoying that. We need to drink a beer some day, we are almost friends!. :-) Please follow my advice and make some searchs: you'll see we're not alone.
eet

2007-11-22 08:35:48

Yes, you could call it playing. I prodded the big, ugly troll with a stick and found it was made of cardboard.

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TaQ

2007-11-22 11:48:54

I prodded the big, ugly troll with a stick and found it was made of cardboard.
Feels the same here on the other side. ;-)
eet

2007-11-22 13:00:27

The troll got nothing to support it...

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TaQ

2007-11-22 19:06:12

Oh boy, I think now we reached an useless point on a endless loop. If we don't have anything more to say about this post, I don't see why try to extend more this trying to find who's the troll here. Let's move to the newer posts? :-)
Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-22 19:32:34

Sebastian Weiss (eet) has apparently done some legwork in other sites (where his comments get deleted).
eet

2007-11-22 20:02:03

Nooo; good old Beranger still talks to me because mine are the most intelligent replies he gets on his blog. Heck, the same goes for your blog, really...

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Roy Schestowitz

2007-11-22 21:45:08

He doesn't talk to you and he doesn't like you.

How to Handle Microsoft's Unhealthy Obsession with GNU/Linux

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