[Fsf-friends] Selling well and freedom

[Ramanraj K]

Senthil_OR@Dell.com wrote:

>Well thank you such an exciting link. but it certainly was not an answer
>to the news reported.
>
The propaganda by Microsoft that it is competing with Linux is 
meaningless because experts and mature users consider Microsoft  a toy 
for 3 year olds.  Even if Windows is eventually released as free 
software, we may not touch it for many reasons including those shared in 
the link.  FSF originated to break free the restrictions imposed by 
proprietary software.  FreeBSD was born out of the battle with AT&T, 
releasing TCP/IP as one of the first major free idea for wide public 
use.  Atleast, that was a clash between giants.  Selling toys well is 
very different from designing and releasing robust code as free software.

>I just happened to come across this as well. 
>http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3196&t=innovation
>+'s of M$ 
>
The experts at Harvard say: "The essence of our argument is that the key 
to Microsoft's success is the way it manages its intellectual property."

Recently at ILUGC, fork bombs were discussed.  The solution given by 
Suraj suggested setting the ulimit -u value to make the fb harmless. 
 Many including me asked what is a reasonable setting for ulimit -u. 
 Suraj posted the answer as 150.  Now, imagine holding back the answer 
and saying "I could give you the reasonable int value for the setting if 
you pay me and agree not to disclose the answer to anyone else".  A 
single integer value could be sold in the market by managing 
intellectual property.    It takes a big heart to give away tons of high 
quality code that can be used by anyone with freedom.  India have given 
away the number system for free.  Imagine people having to pay for the 
use of zero or the number system.  The freedom to use intellectual 
property is important for progress, and any fetters on it would be 
counter productive and will only pamper the greed of a few individuals 
at the cost of the majority.

Again, the interview discusses this:

*<quote>
Q: *Microsoft was originally late in its embrace of the Internet....

*A: *In any industry subject to rapid technological change, a firm faces 
two big challenges. The first is in /recognizing/ the threats (and 
opportunities) presented by newly emerging technologies. The second is 
in mounting an effective /response/ to these threats. Microsoft appears 
to have solved these problems, giving it the ability to quickly adapt to 
changing circumstances. The way they have tackled each however, differs 
in nature.

</quote>

The internet is possible because TCP/IP was freely released as NetBSD. 
 The experts seem to have great difficulty in even giving due credit to 
the achievements of free software, and only view it as a threat to 
proprietary companies.  Imagine those who were using Roman numerals 
only, considering the Indian number system a threat, and then learning 
to use zero and saying they have effectively responded to the threat. 
 It is impossible to convert the Roman number system to provide 
functionality possible with the Indian number system.  The same 
difficulty exists in Windows.

But, let us take the case of others who have some real and tangible 
intellectual property.  Now, how to convince those who sell intellectual 
property of some real value to move towards the path of freedom?

  

>
>
>
>
>
>  
>