01.16.14
KDE Needs to Tell Apple to Take a Hike
“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
–Steve Jobs
Summary: One of the companies most hostile towards Free/Open Source software (FOSS) is trying to approach those whose work it exploited and harmed
Apple is a liar that has done nothing for Free/Open Source software except take it and then sue its original developers (and/or their clients). Anyone who still believes the fiction of Apple as an “Open Source” supporter (as their Web site and PR agents/fans try to tell us) is just not keeping a grip on reality and may therefore fall for this schmoozing campaign from last week [1]. Yes, Apple is trying to approach KDE developers now. FOSS developers should send Apple’s E-mails where the sun does not shine. Apple does many other bad things, but we need not look further than just Apple’s betrayal and exploitation of FOSS in this context.
There is a new article right now [2] about Apple’s abuse of patents and lawyers, showing quite clearly that the company has nothing to do with innovation. Right now Apple is just suing Linux backers and trying to stop antitrust regulators from doing their job. KDE should take this as a hint; Apple is a crude, dishonest, manipulative company, just like its mean-spirited spiritual leader. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Greetings from the Safari team at Apple Computer
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Apple Meets Its Worst Nightmare: Federally Appointed Antitrust Lawyer Hell-Bent on Doing His Job
As detailed in a recent article in the New York Times, Apple is flipping out over an outside monitor nosing around in its business. The technology giant has spent the last several months pulling out all the stops to keep one Michael R. Bromwich, a Washington lawyer appointed by a federal judge to ensure Apple’s compliance with antitrust laws, from doing his job.
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Most absurd, Apple claims that if Bromwich is not stopped, the company will no longer be able to innovate and create new products. What a hoot! If Apple was really eager to innovate and create new products, perhaps it would stop doing stock buybacks to enrich executives and devote some of the Mt. Fuji of cash it is sitting on to R&D.
The judge who appointed the monitor is not amused by Apple’s antics. The NYT reports that at a Jan. 13 hearing in Manhattan, Judge Denise Cote “told Apple and its lawyers to stop wasting time and start cooperating with the monitor.” Apple’s lawyer retorted that the company planned to continue its fight to unseat Bromwich with an appellate court. This is getting quite nasty. The Wall Street Journal huffed that the judge was mean and bad, too. If only these people would go back to doing nothing and leave big business in peace.
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