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?