Re: OT -- MS makes a statement about open-source software movemen t

From: Andy Duncan <andy_j_duncan_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 03:45:32 -0700
Message-ID: <F001.002FA873.20010507032549@fatcity.com>

Hi Jared,

> >He described the open software movement as ``flimsy,'' ''flawed,''
> >jeopardizing property rights and threatening to undermine the software
> >industry, a key economic growth engine.

Mr Mundie, methinks thou protest too much.

Isn't this the typical case of having it both ways? First of all Microsoft say, "Don't split us up, we're not really a monopolistic trust, because Linux is a growing rival". Later, once it looks like they've avoided the trust-busting, "Linux isn't a rival at all, it's flimsy and flawed". Monumental arrogance, almost as bad as New Labour's here in the UK. Next we'll be hearing from Redmond, "The government should ban Open Source as it's a threat to National Security, and consumers should only be allowed to buy Microsoft, which is totally secure", and we're back to protectionism, special interests and the removal of freedom from the individual to use whatever the heck they want. The sooner the Microsoft trust is split in two, the better.

Just what are they afraid of? If Open Source is as bad as they say, then the market will out, and remove it, without any intervention being necessary on their part, just as open standards in the hardware world, originally led to the rise of the generic PC, the end of IBM's domination, and the rise of Microsoft. It looks like they who lived by the open standard, are mightily afraid they're going to die by the open standard, unless they can get their big government/corporation protectionism and retaliation in first. I think they're right.

Watch out people. This looks to me like the first salvo in a barrage attempt to use their gargantuan financial and legal muscle to remove our individual freedom to choose. Because to any monopoly, governmental, labor or corporate, choice is the enemy.

> >`We recognize that Open Source Software (OSS) has some benefits such as the
> >fostering of community, improved feedback... and debugging,'' Mundie said
> >in prepared remarks. ''But there are significant drawbacks to OSS as well.''

Yes, the monopoly is broken, special interests lose their stranglehold over the rest of us, free trade is strengthened and the wealth of IT is allowed to spread and grow around the rest of the world, without being siphoned off to fill the coffers of just one privileged company.

> >Open source software programming creates greater dangers of security risks,
> >software instability

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it. There are two people held in different jails, and you have to rescue just one of them, as they both know the secret formula to making the world's perfect Mocha Coffee. Now, which one should we choose to rescue? Let's check out the camps:

Prison Camp A

A single proprietary combination padlock (from 001 to 999) is placed on the single main gate, by the single camp guard, who's 93. A large roll of black cotton sheet, 10 feet in width, has been wrapped around the camp, as an outer fence 10 feet high. Before you attempt to break in and rescue your prisoner, you are not allowed to see beyond the black cotton sheet. This provides all the security the camp officers think is necessary. Everyone else, except the prisoners, have gone home. Two prisoners a week, regularly escape from the camp, in the postal truck.

Prison Camp B

You can see everything here, through the three sets of 20 foot high chain link electrified fences. You can see the mine strips between the first two sets of fences, the watchtowers with machine guns every 200 yards, the 100 Rottweiler guard dogs patrolling around the last fence, the razor wire, and the guard barracks every 50 yards, which house three shifts of 500 guards to provide 24 hour a day protection. You know the exact design specificiation of the mines, the type of food the dogs eat, the fact that each of the many padlocks on each gate has exactly one million combinations (you even have blank keys for the padlocks, which you can cut at your leisure). You know what calibre bullets the machine guns fire, you know how big the windows are in the barrack blocks and what the guards ate for breakfast. You have detailed aerial plans of the entire complex, which have been posted on the camp's website, as a challenge, by the camp commandant, who prides herself on never having lost a prisoner. You know that the guards are on a $1,000 dollar bonus per man for every intruder or escaping prisoner that they shoot dead and a $10,000 dollar bonus per man per annum for going a complete year without losing a single prisoner.

Question

Which is more secure?

I know which one I'd rather try and break into.

> >and breaking up common industry design standards that
> >could force valuable corporate intellectual property into the public domain,

This should read, "breaking up Microsoft de-facto standards, which we've used as cash-cows for a generation, and making us reveal our secret APIs, once we've been split into two companies, which will give other commercial operations an even playing field, to compete with the split company and increase free trade."

I think Adam Smith knew what to do with such companies back in 1776.

Rgds,
AndyD

andy_j_duncan_at_yahoo.com

O'Reilly's "Oracle and Open Source":
=> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/oracleopen/

Orac, Perl/Tk and Perl DBI Database DBA & Development Tool: => http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/modules/by-module/DBI/ANDYDUNC/

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Received on Mon May 07 2001 - 05:45:32 CDT