IN THE previous post about Amazon's patent deal with Microsoft we called for a boycott. Some people in Slashdot have independently made similar calls. In this longer post we shall look at some reactions to the news and then analyse a little further.
Microsoft has consistently refused to give any details of its absurd FUD about GNU/Linux infringing on its patents, which is not surprising, since they are likely to be completely bogus and/or trivial. So Amazon is showing real pusillanimity in making this unnecessary deal. Shame on you, Jeff.
What was Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, thinking?
“Microsoft knowingly breaks the law and simply perceives itself as above the law.”Microsoft tried getting around signing of deals with Red Hat and instead it is approaching their customers (Amazon mostly uses RHEL), which are stuffed with unethical individuals who couldn't care less about Free(dom) software. Microsoft surprised Amazon when it came up with statements that were probably intended to be secret (protected by an NDA). This is some really nasty back-door dealing and as a former Microsoft lawyer explained some days ago, the company is sometimes intimidating and retaliating. Microsoft knowingly breaks the law and simply perceives itself as above the law. Steve Ballmer, for instance, needs to be arrested (not that rich people are ever apprehended, just look at Dick Cheney). Many people are not aware of this because of endless PR, including the ongoing scams of the Gates Foundation. It's impossible to explain this in a minute or two (the concision constraints).
Microsoft blogs are of course serving their own delusion and are justifying Microsoft's side in subtle ways. Microsoft has put a lot of PR effort into patent propaganda, so they probably believe their own spin and lies. They are controlling the message and telling the public how to think and how to feel about it.
Microsoft booster Ina Fried is delighted about this extortion [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] because it's beneficial to the company she promotes. That same rubbish (it's a blog post) from that PR person has reached ZDNet as "news", where there is the one-sided promotion with quotes from Microsoft and no criticism whatsoever. People should not blindly accept such bias. "Microsoft licenses Linux to Amazon" is what our reader called it after reading this poor article (promotional, no criticism whatsoever of Microsoft's racketeering) and he added: "This has to be illegal, MS is making some sort of property claims, else they are engaged in an extortion racket."
It is an extortion racket indeed. In previous posts we showed why. It must have been made possible in part due to those former Microsoft employees (including vice presidents) who entered Amazon. Should the industry ostracise those Microsoft employees who seem to promote Microsoft's interests almost everywhere they go?
Here is the coverage from Microsoft booster Richard Waters (he has a long history even bashing Microsoft's competitors in the Financial Times):
Some big Asian tech companies - including Samsung and LG Electronics - have already reached similar deals to license the Microsoft patents, which the software company claims cover IP that has been copied in Linux. But the Amazon arrangement looks far more significant given Amazon’s massive data-centres.
Among them, the agreement will shield Amazon from patent litigation against its Kindle e-reader, which includes some open-source software components, and against its use of Linux-based servers, Microsoft said.
While since it's a straight cross-licensing deal, it doesn't sound like any money changed hands, but effectively Amazon had to "pay" by licensing its own patents. It does seem pretty problematic, doesn't it, when a company has to "pay" Microsoft (whether in cash or via licenses to its own patents) just to use Linux? Perhaps it's time to redefine the "Microsoft tax."
--Mark Shuttleworth