Microsoft Open Source Licensing‽

You might be fond of GPL, but businesses aren’t. I’m sorry, but we feel we deserve to be paid for our work. Saying that companies don’t deserve to receive money for their time is ludicrous.

The good folks at GNU form a quasi-socialist organization that somehow got it into their heads that companies are evil because they charge money for work. I would love to see anyone who actually works for a living substantiate that argument.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/compromise.html

see also: the gnu manifesto, and stallman’s blatant attempt to complete ignore the question of his socialist agenda by labeling anyone who doesn’t agree with him an ayn rand flavoured laissez-faire capitalist.

Kitty, your position is easily understood, but the point of my piece was that, with all the different licensing models, I really don’t think Microsoft needed to further muddy the waters.

Besides that, you must admit that the very nature of it being from Microsoft leads to suspicion.

See this is typical double speak. One minute people are bashing Microsoft for being the evil empire, and claiming that MS should go open source to be fair and make things better for the public and of course developers.

As soon as Microsoft takes a step in some areas like this people like you Oracle cry foul and make statements such as “I really don’t think Microsoft needed to further muddy the waters.”

Give me a break…you can’t have it both ways. Once again Microsoft is damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. It’s just another twisted liberal ideal. They don’t really care about the issues..they only want to cause trouble and make people miserable like they are themselves. Sorry souls to be sure.

Well Microsoft should be damned if they do and damned if they don’t because they have repeatedly demonstrative is they only give a damn about maximizing THEIR profilt at the expensive of all their customers. Just look at the all the different Vista and windows 7 versions. Then look at the silly screen size and other restrictions in the Windows 7 license for netbooks. All designed to maximize MS profit and nothing more.

Zune80, have you had the chance to peruse the number of different arrangements for protection or guidance of one’s work there are? If Microsoft thought it needed to add something to the mix, perhaps they should have worked with others to modify what was extant - it is not necessary to try to re-invent the wheel. Also, the track record of Microsoft makes everyone nervous and suspicious when they do try it.

If you can remove the fanboy blinders for a moment, you’ll be able to assess this with more clarity.

Thanks for the comment.

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Oracle, anyone can blog, and a lot try. Just because you have an established blog here on Lockergnome with Chris’s backing doesn’t make you an authority on anything. It’s an opinion that you are expressing, and we express our opinions back.
I have watched your blog for months and the norm is whenever someone disagrees with your opinion and what you say they are automatically attacked by you on various levels and in this case labeled a fanboy.
If anyone needs to take the blinders off it’s you. You need to realize that a lot of professionals out here see things differently then you do, and it’ quite possible that YOU can learn a thing or two from them as well. I’m not some child that you can verbally reprimand when I don’t fall inline with your way of thinking.
A fanboy is someone who is fantically loyal to a company (in this case) and would never admit that their precious diety could ever do wrong, or release anything less than perfect. This type of person also decries all reasonable logic when facts are presented proving something less than stellar about their favorite company or product they produce.

I am not a fan boy. I use products from Apple for instance, and do not go around bashing them. I use products from Microsoft and I do not go around putting them on a pedestal without fault. I do however spend a decent amount of time correcting actual misconceptions and lie that are abound on the internet regarding Microsoft. It’s about truth and fairness, not fan boyism. I would and have done the same in regards to Apple when people spew their deceit like a virus.

It just sickens me that the majority of people online can’t reason for themselves and weed out the BS, and get the right results.

I’m a Linux user, Windows user, and at some point in the relatively near future a Mac user. I learn it all, and I learn it well.

If you are tired of me coming into your blog and stating my views on Microsoft and the people that bash them for no good reason then perhaps you should stop feeding the fire and present the facts the way they are, and not in a manner you want us all to believe.

On the plus side…and to be fair, the opinions you present here pertaining to Microsoft are nowhere near as hate filled as those presented by Ron S. His blog comes across to many as a personal vendetta against Microsoft, and I can no longer waste my time trying to clean up or correct the lies he spews. It’s just to nauseating to be honest.

Also, for the record for those that wonder, no I have never worked for Microsoft in ANY capacity. Would I turn down a job offer from them if offered…no I’m sure I wouldn’t, but that will never be the case. I like most of what they do, and dislike or disagree with their business model on a few fronts. I am not out to change them one way or the other. All I want is for the big players to stay in business and create products that make them money, but more importantly, products that improve their customer bases lives and enable us to have a productive, fun and trouble free time in doing so.

Zenium, take a look at the restrictions Apple puts on ALL their software and hardware and then talk to me about Microsoft.

All companies put restrictions on any given product line in order to make us go with a high cost model that is more full featured.

Take the firewire port on some of the low end Macs…gone…then back. The whole reason it was taken out was to force the buyer to go with the more expensive Macbook Pro. That’s how business works, and it’s been that way long before you or I were ever thought of. Microsoft doesn’t want ALL of us running Windows on a cheap netbook. They want us to buy the desktop and laptops where the capabilities are greater and the licensing is more profitable. It’s the way business works, and if they weren’t making money 50,000 of their employees would be out of a job. Money fuels productivity and job growth so unless you rather live in a world where we are all eating beans out of a can everyday or worse..well..get used to it.

Zune80,

to sum up:

• your incessant meandering around my point shows that you are unable to answer my point - that Microsoft uses less than scrupulous methods for their advertisements

• I learn others all the time, daily, as a matter of fact, but I also speak opinions, and if you had actually read and understood what I’ve previously said, you would see I acknowledge my mistakes, when they occur, and never back down when I know I am correct. Opinions vary, but mine are based upon many years not only in computers, but also electronics (amateur radio, cellular phones, high end audio and video, and electronic parts), and the sales of them. I know the industry fairly well, I am simply not as ‘in’ it as I used to be, now being an independent contractor.

Beyond my qualifications as a computer person, I have that sales background. It allows a very good perspective on what makes business flow.

If you have business experience, you don’t seem to show it, or allow it to bring that perspective to your opinions.

• Think about the things that Microsoft does. Think about what the company presents, as a face to the world. It is not a villain, or an angel, it is a business. It has good products, and bad products - it is my considered opinion that the good products did not have their inception inside the halls of Microsoft, but were purchased and refined. That still brings in dollars, and that is all the stockholders care about. But back to the point - Microsoft should, if it wants to present as a corporate good guy, avoid the tactics of those corporations that are not simply doing business, and letting the results stand for themselves.

Quality shows, and doesn’t need ridiculous bolstering, or bribery.

Your opinions are welcome here, truly, but it would be nice if we were talking about the same things.

You’re the one who strays from the question of what your issues are with Microsoft. It has nothing to do with them, but more to do with your distorted views on what’s moral or ethical in doing business.

As for your background, I’ll put mine up against yours any day. Like you it’s not just my 25 plus years of working with computers, computer hardware and software that shape my views and opinions.

Besides having always been an electronic hobbyiest since my youth I have a lifetime of training and real world experience in engineering, production, testing and repair. I know a good product when I see one and a failure as well.

I have a college education in computer science and music
I spent 7 years in the Navy in the Advanced Electronics Program as a Sonar Technician trained on three major Surface Sonars that cost billions and I was the lead tech. I troubleshot and repaired BOTH analog and digital circuits down to component level…not just the card or even worse the subassembly.
I worked for Celluar One for 4 years setting up and maintaining Cell sites.
I worked for Raymond Corp. designing prototype control systems for some of the worlds most popular forklift systems
I worked for McIntosh Labs, in Binghamton, NY for 5 years and was responsible for the MC-500 (stereo)and MC-1000 lines (mono) that shipped world wide. If you know anything about high end audio like you claim then I need not tell you about McIntosh..you would know their rep.
I worked for Lockheed Martin / BAE for 5 years in both the military and commercial sectors. Once again in the Control Systems division working on projects ranging from the Electric buses that roam NYC and other places to the Delta Rocket control system that was taken over by us and were responsible for it’s only successful launches.
I’ve run my own sucessfull web design and consulting business for years and I’m an expert in Xerox print systems of all shapes and sizes…and a Document Specialist. Those are some of the highlights.

So since you felt it necessary once again to question my intelligence or qualificaitons I felt it necessary to list some of MY accomplishments that form my opinions based on years of experience. Your remark on the other post about my age of 46, and how in your opinion I don’t sound like any other 46 year old you know is complete rubbish and once again a failed attempt on your part to sound superior.

I do have sales and business experience, and my background in technology can only be rivaled by the best.

I stand by my comments that you are just an elitest blogger who thinks his opinion (and I”m being nice) doesn’t stink. You’re wrong. ANYBODY can see going back through your blog that you treat all your readers with contempt when they don’t agree with you and you try to smear them and their knowledge. Grow up, and start being responsible for your actions. You are poisoning the minds of young, naive kids with your rubbish, and I’ll be here to try and counteract the damage you do.

Zune80, though you certainly have the training, I am not sure about business or sales acumen. When evaluating a company, it takes both. Your truculent nature is making it hard to deal with you; not that I’d resort to censoring your input, but you might find no responses.

To make it perfectly clear, as I thought I had done already - When Microsoft makes a good product, I laud the effort, when they don’t, I criticize. The company has a long history of unfair business practices, and though the charges have not stuck as well here as in the EU, the fact is, it is a company that does not play fair. The profit motive has always been first, innovation and quality of service to the customer, second.

Please don’t ask for further illustrations from me, there won’t be any.

As I stated at the start, your truculence makes you seem like the one who needs to grow up.

I think the word truculent covers both the participants in this conversation. As you said, you don’t back down when you know or feel you’re right. Obviously neither do I.

People paid Microsoft that money because they wanted their products. If they were unhappy with them they have every right to stop using them and find a different OS, Office Suite etc. Funny how they keep coming back for more.

Things don’t stick in this country because they are trumped up charges by jacked up liberals looking to cause trouble and governments looking to fill their tills with “found money”

The whole browser market game is laughable. The browsers are free and people can use whatever they like. Liberal judges who think people are too stupid and incapable of downloading a preferred browser other than IE are and insult.

My last question to you can go unanswered as you please, but for the sake of putting this question out there…

Why is it ok for Apple to “bundle” Safari with their OS, and not ok for Microsoft to “bundle” IE x with theirs? A lot of double standards going on, and a lot of liberals protecting the almighty Apple.

I want to live in a world where fairness applies to all, and not just to those that fit a predetermined profile.

Good luck with your blog….

Zune80, I was not consulted about the EU decision (imagine that!).

However, had I been, I would have first told them to let it go - bundling of IE 8 should be no big deal. But, once that decision to interfere was made, I felt that the tack of including a pre-loader, that would present a screen, with the top 4 browsers as choices, could have been used.

I believe that the decision of Microsoft to remove IE is a classic case of two wrongs don’t make a right. Because when the company decided that removing the browser was a smart move (the act of a petulant child, unaware of the repercussions) it made the average user do more work, to have internet access. Not that much more, but enough to perplex and peeve them, most likely making certain their choice of a browser will not be IE 8.

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