[oclug] MicroSoft says Linux, OpenSource threaten innovation

[DaveR]

Tom Goulet wrote:
> 
> >Remember the hunt for the communists?  Black lists?  Citizens wrongly accused
> >and convicted?
> >
> >Stuff like this just keeps happening down there...
> 
> s/down there//
> 
> Now...can we please get back to optimistic things like fixing hapless
> GNU/Linux boxen?  :-)
> 
> TomG
> 
--- munch ---

	Tom, with apologies for swinging in on your contribution, is optimism
justified? The Excited States of America has inflicted some very
high-handed, heavy-handed "interventions" around the world when
"national interests" were threatened. And GNU/Linux is obviously a
Communist movement that threatens both at home and abroad a big American
company, with big dollars at stake.

	Is it paranoia to be concerned when attacks like what started this
thread are mounted? The twentieth century provided chilling examples of
"first you demonize your opponent/victim to justify his destruction".

	Personal experience of the power of Microsoft (enforced by the army of
MCSE thralls infesting the federal department I recently retired from)
left me a bit shaken. My offense was to dual-boot my NT4 box into Linux
to demonstrate a cost-effective alternative to an expensive
SCOunix/Microsoft installation. I was threatened with disciplinary (job)
action by the local MCSE, for this "security breach". I was not praised
by my section-head for showing how we could save some serious money for
the government.

	My former department also used the WordPerfect office suite, until that
was purged in favour of Microsoft Office. You saw how Corel fared when
they screamed "foul" about how the contracting process discriminated
against anything that wasn't Microsoft? Corel appealed to the courts,
winning that battle, but as it appears now, losing the war.

	 I too would like to believe that "... first they laugh at you, then
they attack you, then you win ...", but I am not convinced that
optimism/smugness is justified. The recent American election paves the
way for another round of Military-Industrial complexities. As a
Canadian, I was disgusted to see Bill Gates visit Ottawa, be received by
our Prime Minister like a visiting head-of-state, and how !techno-aware
our PM was.

	Stay tuned for further developments. By the way, in the great Ottawa
Amalgamation debacle, there apparently is serious money involved in
globbing the various former cities' software systems into a functioning
whole. I'm sure GNU/Linux could help there. "Think globally, act
locally"?

Frothing mildly;
-- 
David G. Robinson
Ottawa, ON, Canada
p.s. have you noticed the "nationality" of your default spell-checker?