Unbelievable
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Sander_Marechal Jun 04, 2007 7:50 AM EDT |
This is really unbelievably stupid. 1) They saw the backlash against Novell. Do they really think there won't be backlash against them? Just read the Xandros forums and see. 2) When the Novell deal was signed the GPLv3 was in it's infancy. Now it's in the final draft. Xandros knows what it says and should know how it will impact their deal -- and it won't be pretty. 3) Novell had a decent bargaining position. They had IP that MS needed. This resulted in a large wad of cash going to Novell. Not so for Xandros. 4) The only reason Novell is not doing badly is because of the large amount of vouchers MS is practically giving away. Vouchers that have been paid for. MS won't be selling Xandros vouchers. Expect Xandros sales to go down hard. Xandros management is far more shortsighted that Novell was. I don't expect the company to last long after this incredibly stupid move. |
| salparadise Jun 04, 2007 9:33 AM EDT |
Maybe this is the new MS strategy. Go round all the OSS companies one by one offering deals. When you've removed all those who will pay from the field you get heavy with those that are left. |
| maggrand Jun 04, 2007 10:32 AM EDT |
Well if Xandros go down that don't count anyway or do it....They did already go down one time before. Remember the Redmond distro....that one was then rebranded into Xandros. If i remember right. Correct me if i am wrong please. Anyway it don't matter if Microsoft gets deal after deal (If the manage to get anymore after gpl v3 ?). Anyone can build a new one. And since we have a choice we can easily switch from bad ones to good ones. Thats not the case in the crappy windows world. Right. It also damages Microsofts brand. Because now they say that Linux is BETTER then windows. They also makes all the investors very impatiant for return of there money and they will not get as much as they hoped. After all Microsoft don't dare to sue anyone. Just take a look at the crappy value of Microsofts stock...Thats way below what it once was. And even worse. Vista is not selling good enought.... So who is in trouble, NOT LINUX...... |
| herzeleid Jun 04, 2007 10:32 AM EDT |
Wowzers, redhat is looking better and better - and I'm an old redhat user who went elsewhere in 2004, after they ended support for the shrink wrap versions. Time to revisit this whole scene again, methinks... hmm, where's a blank dvd for that fedora 7 iso... |
| jdixon Jun 04, 2007 10:57 AM EDT |
> Remember the Redmond distro....that one was then rebranded into Xandros. If i remember right. Correct me if i am wrong please. I believe Xandros is the old Corel Linux. |
| maggrand Jun 04, 2007 11:02 AM EDT |
Well okey i was wrong then....But the corel linux did also bite the dust.... |
| salparadise Jun 04, 2007 11:13 AM EDT |
Linspire used to be Lindows iirc. |
| Aladdin_Sane Jun 04, 2007 11:45 AM EDT |
maggrand, my recollection is that Corel, a Canadian company that made Draw! and owns WordPerfect, jumped into Linux in about 1999 with Corel Linux. Not much later, maybe 6 months, MS invested a large sum of money in Corel, on the condition that their Linux go away. Corel spun off Corel Linux as a separate company and dist known as Xandros. So Corel Linux did fail once before, but that failure was a direct cause of MS intervention. Remember, not soon after these deals Corel became a has-been non-player in the industry, the Founder resigned, etc. Xandros, like Novell, is another corp that has not learned from its own history. |
| thenixedreport Jun 04, 2007 1:18 PM EDT |
"Maybe this is the new MS strategy. Go round all the OSS companies one by one offering deals. When you've removed all those who will pay from the field you get heavy with those that are left." BINGO! Also, if memory serves, Redmond Linux became Lycoris, then was bought out by what is now known as Mandriva. |
| dcparris Jun 04, 2007 1:21 PM EDT |
Per a couple of articles I wrote on the Mandriva-Lycoris deal, Mandriva actually only bought pieces of Lycoris, rather than the company as a whole. The company simply closed its doors, as its owner went to work for Mandriva. |
| devnet Jun 04, 2007 2:26 PM EDT |
DCParris, Do you recall the name of the Lycoris Dev? I can't remember... |
| Egon_Spengler Jun 04, 2007 2:36 PM EDT |
If by Lycoris Dev, you mean the fellow who worked for Mandriva for a few weeks, then got his entire department cost-cut out from under him, that would be Joseph Cheek, the guy who started Redmond Linux. |
| Libervis Jun 04, 2007 2:50 PM EDT |
This is fun to watch. :) I guess there is something to this strategy, which sander implied. It could be said that these pointless deals are a new way for MS to strangle existing FOSS vendors who are gullible enough to fall for it just to weed out the FOSS ecosystem a bit and supposedly make it weaker. Of course.. this might shoot down a few FOSS companies, but it wont shoot down the ecosystem which produced them. Out of the ashes of the ones who may fall, even bigger challenges for MS will rise. It's like killing a few bees in a swarm of thousands. :D MS is a real comedy show these days. I can't wait for their next move! :D |
| Igor Jun 04, 2007 7:23 PM EDT |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divide_and_conquer |
| Scott_Ruecker Jun 04, 2007 10:02 PM EDT |
My gut feeling is that Microsoft is trying to spike the punch, and so far its working fantastically. Get the guests drunk and fighting with each other so they don't notice what is really going on. Let me back up a little.. Microsoft is using the one thing they have that most Open Source companies need desperately, cash. Which they happen to have a bigger pile of than anyone, let me repeat, anyone else. You and I both know that they have more money in the bank at their disposal than any other "technology" company. They also know that they don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to whether Linux infringes on any of their patents so they can't use the one real weapon they do have, their cash, to get rid of Linux. So instead of taking their case to court where it would blow up in their face they are using their cash as bait to get Open Source companies to bite on their "cross license compatibility and protection" contracts. They are literally fishing their way into the Open Source sector and by doing so it does several things for them. 1. It adds credibility to their completely unfounded claim that Linux infringes on their patents without ever having to be specific or go to court and prove it. It allows suspicion and doubt to do all the work for them 2. It allows them to stick their fingers into an area of the technology market where they otherwise would have no avenue of access. 3. It finally gives their PR and marketing departments something, anything to work with. and the easiest one of all.. 4. It gets everyone in the FOSS community mad at one of our own and completely distracted from what is really going on which also makes them look good to existing and prospective customers by using our community's inherent dispersed power base and lack of focused opinion against us. Sure were mad at Microsoft but we spend more time and attention on the "traitor" who betrayed us, and that's exactly why it is working in their favor. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." But like I said, that's just my gut feeling. I hope I am wrong, but so far it looks like it is working just like they want it too. |
| land0 Jun 04, 2007 11:32 PM EDT |
There is no such thing as bad press! No matter what M$ does or who they make deals with GNU/Linux is getting millions of dollars worth of free press. lol |
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