Re: Leaked MS Memo
From: David Candy (david_at_mvps.org)
Date: 04/04/04
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Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 19:00:51 +1000
The GNU guy said to Bill Gates quite a few years ago "that all software should be free". Bill agreed and said "and all hardware too."
-- ---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.g2mil.com/Dec2003.htm "Vagabond Software" <carlfenley-X-@-X-san.rr.com> wrote in message news:eACMNEiGEHA.1180@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl... > I know all about "sharing". It took the 'Open Source' folks almost nine > months to "share" a patch for the critical "chunk" vulnerability in an > Apache web server running on our network. It took them almost as long to > "share" a patch for the severe NFS server vulnerability in pre-2.0 Linux > kernel versions. > > Sharing is fine and dandy. You certainly can't beat the price. > > - carl > > <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:17d7601c41a06$cbab65b0$a301280a@phx.gbl... > > Title: The Danger of Sharing > > Author: Microsoft Executive > > Date: November 18, 2003 > > > > A dangerous plague is sweeping the land... a plague of > > sharing. > > It hides under the the seductive name of 'Free Software' > > or sometimes > > 'Open Source', but underneath it is just plain and simple > > sharing. > > I've warned the world of this threat on many occasions, > > but I've > > discovered my warnings were not broad enough. You see, > > this evil called > > sharing is not limited to just software. > > > > You can find signs of it everywhere, along with the > > economic ruin that > > follows it. Why just the other day I discovered this > > place called a > > 'soup kitchen'. It was providing meals... for free! Just > > image the > > damage that would be inflicted on the restaurant industry > > if this soup > > kitchen thing catches on. The effects could already be > > seen in that > > neighborhood; all the other people in the soup line seemed > > very poor, > > and there was not a five star restaurant to be found > > anywhere nearby. > > > > I've even seen evidence of this sharing epidemic among my > > own employees. > > Just the other day one of the interns brought in muffins > > and gave them > > away, you guessed it, for free! Perhaps it would not have > > been so bad if > > she had actually purchased them from a bakery, but she > > actually admitted > > to baking them herself. She said she enjoyed doing it and > > was happy to > > give them away so other people could enjoy them to! Can > > you imagine > > the impact on the bakery industry if this sort of thing > > catches on! > > But it doesn't stop there. She went on to thank several > > of her coworkers > > for helping her move into her new apartment. Yes, you > > heard correctly, > > people actually helped her move, FOR FREE. Image all the > > work lost to > > moving companies from this sort of activity. > > > > Perhaps giving away free muffins seems like no big deal to > > you. > > After all, the damage that one person can do is limited to > > the number > > of muffins that one person can bake. The cost of > > production puts a cap > > on the amount of destructive sharing this person can do. > > But when we > > enter the realm of software and other forms of > > intangible 'intellectual > > property', the cost of production quickly bottoms out. > > After the first > > one, the rest are essentially free! In a free software > > world, there is no > > room for Microsoft's 85 to 90 percent profit margin on > > Windows and Office. > > The company might be forced to survive on the thin 5 to 9 > > percent > > margins that most of the technology industry suffers > > with. Even worse, > > it might have to rely on other sources of revenue, like > > support services. > > > > Imagine the impact to the economy if all that money > > currently being > > funneled to Microsoft software was instead left in the > > hands of their > > customers. Imagine all the ways in which those companies > > and home user > > might squander that money. I realize some of you out > > there will try > > and argue that spreading money around is better for the > > economy than > > concentrating it in one place, but that argument only > > holds water if > > someone besides Microsoft is capable of innovation, and we > > all know how > > silly that idea is. > > > > In conclusion, we must all do our part to stop this plague > > of sharing. > > Just as surely as mechanized looms threatened the weaving > > industry of > > the early 19th century, the cooperative development > > methods of the so > > called free and open source software movements threatens > > our current > > proprietary software industry. The sharing must be > > stopped. > >
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