[TriLUG] LG Joins Microsoft's Open Source Protection Club

[Tim Jowers]

Steve,

   I'm uninformed probably. Can you explain Gates' strategy a little more?
Basically, what I understand from your post is he wants to create a new
category of Linux which cannot run Free software but is encumbered to a
license agreement to him. This smacks of the sort of license agreements
companies like CSC (formerly PMSC) used which generally made it illegal for
anyone to modify the installed software except for the vendor. The new
category may be an evolution of the "official repo sites" which today only
have FREE software as in absolutely clear of patent infringements as far as
can be assessed.

   I'd really like to know more about the restrictions of these deals these
companies are signing. From your post I suspect the restrictions will
back-fire because being locked out of OpenSource is a death knell.
OpenSource may seem big to the Linux folks but is life-changing to the SWDev
folks. The amount of innovation and advancement in SWDev OpenSource is
basically putting proprietary out of business. Microsoft has sought to hold
on with .Net but only Microserf shops use that. Many Microserfs haven't even
moved to .Net. Now in the Java space which absolutely dominates business
SWDev the trend is away from the proprietary J2EE to OpenSource frameworks.
In short, anyone who locks their company out of OpenSource will be identical
to the Mainframe dinosaurs of the 1990s. The future is OpenSource as seen
from the SWDev seat. It is simply a step function better way of
collaborating and therefore immensely faster in time to market than
proprietary development.

TimJowers