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Time:
09:57 EST/14:57 GMT | News Source:
eWeek |
Posted By: Robert Stein |
Worries over intellectual property can make for strange bedfellows. In the case of Microsoft Corp.'s nearly ubiquitous FAT (file allocation table) file system, it's Microsoft and the Linux community.
The open-source community has an enormous interest in the outcome of last week's decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine the patent Microsoft holds on the FAT file system, a format used for the interchange of media between computers and digital devices.
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#1 By
7754 (216.160.8.41)
at
6/21/2004 7:16:20 PM
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They had refused to consider that people might run a business on something that they could download free from the Internet.
Notwithstanding the fact that most IT managers DO appreciate reliable, accountable support, this rebuttal once again implies that initial cost makes up a large portion of TCO, which again and again has been proven to be false for the vast majority of organizations.
Also, your Slashdot link seems to point to a "Hotmail bounces GMail invitations" posting, not anything about Linux and Windows TCO.
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#2 By
1643 (64.73.227.129)
at
6/21/2004 8:16:13 PM
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#1 They own it (whether or not they bought or developed the technology, but they definitely improved upon the original). They can do whatever they want with their IP. It's not your decision, which is to give away what they created and developed with their money.
#2 Why on earth would you give technology away for free when you can recieve money for it?
humor
This post was edited by humor on Monday, June 21, 2004 at 20:18.
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#3 By
1643 (64.73.227.129)
at
6/21/2004 9:18:02 PM
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Capitalism is not greed, it's incentive for innovation...and the only (known/proven) way to motivate 6 billion people to get out of bed and perform at their highest level for long periods of time (free soda helps as well :)
#7 Of course, it's in their best interest so they cry and whine to help get their point across, often using the sensationalist press, instead of paying the nominal fee (it's really not that expensive to license).
humor
This post was edited by humor on Monday, June 21, 2004 at 22:56.
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#4 By
7754 (216.160.8.41)
at
6/21/2004 9:31:22 PM
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Halcyon--what I meant is that you have someone you can count on for support, say when you've got major problems on midnight on a Saturday night, and you've got to get things running by Monday morning, and you don't want to waste time trying to figure out a problem that you haven't encountered when you can call someone 24/7/365 who deals only with those types of problems as their job, and isn't going to refer you via email or a newsgroup or IM to a FAQ or the poor product documentation--provided anyone at that time will answer you at all, or by the time you need it. You just don't get that with a free product--you might have good luck getting support from day to day, but you can't say you can count on someone for support 24/7/365.
You're right that MS isn't accountable if you screw up something because of your poor implementation or use their product inconsistent with the way it was designed--or even if you use it correctly, yes. But hardly any software offers that kind of liability insurance.
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#5 By
1643 (204.210.30.241)
at
6/22/2004 12:30:28 AM
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Topple Microsoft? Why? They have the best stuff out there...although it costs money. Use free clonesoft, I don't care, just don't become responsible to a business or organization to justify that Linux is cheaper on the desktop, because then you'd be a complete fraud.
Just because you have a "everything should be free" philosophy, doesn't mean it should be. Microsoft creates value...what do you create?
humor
This post was edited by humor on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 at 01:11.
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#6 By
1643 (204.210.30.241)
at
6/22/2004 3:44:26 AM
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You don't think that some people believe that MS creates value?
Even in the OSS paradigm, if you use the MS platform, your basically outsourcing your software maintenance and development to Microsoft and combining with hundreds of thousands of other users.
Are you saying that no one benefits from MS outside of shareholder wealth?
Nobody benefits from a wide range of hardware that a unified driver platform brings?
Nobody benefits that Microsoft has brought the internet in so many homes as an information tool? Even linux wasn't ready in 1994ish when the internet took off.
Nobody?
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#7 By
19992 (164.214.4.61)
at
6/22/2004 12:23:39 PM
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#14
"Nobody benefits that Microsoft has brought the internet in so many homes as an information tool"
Umm, I'd say that the internet has brought MS into more homes than the other way around.
"Even linux wasn't ready in 1994ish when the internet took off"
Linux had TCP/IP support back then. Several third party vendors were supplying web servers and browsers to both the Windows and Linux world.
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#8 By
8556 (12.217.173.227)
at
6/22/2004 12:43:46 PM
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Why can't we all play nice together? Oh yeah: lawyers.
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#9 By
1643 (64.73.227.129)
at
6/22/2004 1:31:37 PM
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I'm not saying Linux couldn't play, it just wasn't near mature, easy to use (and I would debate that today as well, but that's another topic), had little harware support, had hardly any support for that matter...it was the end user who preffered a standard, inexpensve OS which allowed the rapid growth of the internet and technology as a tool for the home (both Windows and Mac). Linux really had no part in it...of course that's not true today...but you can't equate todays Linux product with a version 10 years ago...it just wasn't close.
Rememember, ease of use it what made computers so popular today...compared to how challenging they were in the past.
humor
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#10 By
19992 (164.214.4.61)
at
6/23/2004 10:00:40 AM
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#18 right, but in 94 MS was on Windows 3.11 (we'll count it as an OS for this thread). I'd say Linux was probably as capable as Windows was at that time.
"it just wasn't near mature"
For being about 6 months old at the time, I'd say it was pretty impressive at the end of 94. Minus the hardware issue, I'd say it felt as mature as Windows 3.11 did.
not "easy to use" - Edited line - added not for clarification purposes
I felt the same way about Windows 3.11
"had little harware support"
Agreed
"it was the end user who preffered a standard, inexpensve OS which allowed the rapid growth of the internet and technology as a tool for the home (both Windows and Mac). "
Once again, I disagree. It seems more likely that the Internet (or the promise thereof) drove the home PC market.
This post was edited by happyguy on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at 12:41.
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