Re: [tlug] [OT] Say _no_ to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

Godwin Stewart writes:

 > On Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:08:10 +0900, "Stephen J. Turnbull"
 > <stephen@example.com> wrote:
 > 
 > >  > Why give away code to others and allow them to make huge money from
 > >  > your generosity-without some code turned back over?)
 > > 
 > > Because if you are prepared to demand "some code turned back over",
 > > then it's not "generosity", it's a discriminatory demand for payment
 > > in kind.
 > 
 > The GPL is only demanding code be turned back over if a modified
 > version of the software is released. A non-coder end-user can use it
 > freely, no strings attached.

Precisely what I meant by "discriminatory".  YHBT HAND :-)

 > > Consider also why companies like IBM and Sun use copyleft.  They may
 > > very well be partly altruistic in releasing open source, but the
 > > business logic for copyleft is clear: it's not to ensure that we can
 > > have their code and its derivatives unto the Nth generation; it's to
 > > ensure that anything we produce that can drive a silver stake into the
 > > heart of the Redmond werewolf will not be available for that werewolf
 > > to take use under its current business model.
 > 
 > And the problem with that is....?

None.  I simply point out that a very visible part of the widespread
adoption of copyleft has been by well-known IP abusers with malice
aforethought.

 > That very same Redmond werewolf has clearly shown its vampiric
 > colours before now (command-line ftp.exe anyone?) and I can easily
 > understand anyone not wishing to feed the werewolf's cash-cow with
 > their time and effort.

I can understand resisting Microsoft for any number of reasons.
However, to the extent that Microsoft uses its market power to
disseminate clean secure less buggy BSD code rather than Microserf-
powered crap, I think the world is a better place. ;-)

It's not like it's a visible competitive advantage for Microsoft to
borrow bits and pieces of BSD code, nor does it decrease the prices to
customers (or increase them, for that matter) if Microsoft does or
doesn't.

The problem with Microsoft is that, as paradoxical as it might seem,
its competitive advantage is that it is the vendor of a crappy OS and
crappy apps that happen to be almost universally used.  I think it's
pretty selfish to want that OS and those apps to be more crappy than
they have to be. ;-)