[ros-kernel] RE: Re: RE: Re: Legal...

[Mark W. <ma...@np...>]

Concurrence.  Generally sueing people is not about being /right/ it's about
having sufficient cashe$ to drag the thing through the courts until the
others give up, run out of money, or settle it some other way.  You can't
fight a big corporation on these grounds.

The real problem MS have is that they can't really fight open source
software on these terms.  Who are you going to sue?  The developers?  OK,
problems here are:

(1) Developers may not be in the US - sueing will therefore take place in
multiple countries.  Of course its feasible, but they don't hold as much
weight outside their home.
(2) Stopping one developer doesn't get rid of the code, or stop others
working on it.  It has spread around the NET, and as fast as you shut one
site down another will spring up (cf Warez sites - has anyone been
successful in stopping illegal distribution of software this way?).  It's
very difficult for them to fight the Hydra, and they haven't thought of a
successful way of doing so yet.  Read their annual report/war strategy on
their home page, this talks of the "threat of open source software".  Nice
language.
(3) The /most/ likely thing that they are going to do is add mechanisms that
prevent installing software on non-MS platforms.  Now while their might be
ways around those, every EULA will state (not sure if they already do) that
you may only install on MS sanctioned OSs.  Now there is a clear case for
fighting this on anti-trust terms, but the problem is that who is going to
mount the challenge?

Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jakov af Wallby [mailto:ja...@vm...]
> Sent: 12 October 2001 15:04
> To: ros...@re...
> Subject: [ros-kernel] Re: RE: Re: Legal...
>
>
>
>
> No, they have no legal standing.
> The difference is both Ford and Chrysler have loads of money.
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 12, 2001 at 09:52:39AM -0400, Eric wrote:
> > I'm not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one but I simply fail
> to see how M$
> > have any legal standing.  That's like Ford suing Chrysler for
> copying the
> > automobile.  Is it not?
> >
> > After all, M$ literally copied the Window concept from Xerox
> and MS-DOS was
> > a derivative of CP/M which they purchased and copied.
> >
>
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