[svlug] Fw: MICROSOFT ACQUIRES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM

[Chetan Bhargava]

Somebody sent me that !

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


>>MICROSOFT ACQUIRES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
>>FOR $18 BILLION
>>
>>QWERTYUIOP, WA / --  -- Within hours of IBM's announcement of
>>its $5.7 billion acquisition of the Apache web server, the most popular
>>server for World Wide Web sites, Microsoft today announced that it is
>>acquiring Linux, the free operating system originally developed by Linus
>>Torvalds and a motley group of worldwide programmers, for $18 billion.
>>Mr. Torvalds, who recently joined a startup called Transmeta Corporation
in
>>Santa Clara, CA, will personally receive $8 billion in cash and Microsoft
>>stock, instantly making him one of the richest people in Santa Clara. The
>>rest of the money will be divvied up among the many contributors to Linux,
>>as well as 17 commercial companies which market Linux including Caldera,
>>Debian, DLX, Red Hat Software, Slackware, Stampede, S.u.S.E, and Yggdrasil
>>Computing. All of the employees, officers, and directors of these
companies
>>will immediately become Microsoft employees.
>>Transmeta, which is partly funded by the billionaire (and Microsoft
>>co-founder) Paul Allen, will continue employing Mr. Torvalds, although,
both
>>parties agree it's kind of silly, now that he's going to be so rich.
>>Asked why he was willing to pay so much money for the operating system,
Bill
>>Gates, chairman of Microsoft, said, "It isn't a lot of money at all. It's
>>nothing." Asked again, he said, "You heard what I said, now stop bothering
>>me." Asked once more, he replied, "Ok look, sure we're shelling out $18
>>billion, but think about it: every person who is currently using, or who
has
>>ever used, the Linux operating system will immediately need to pay
Microsoft
>>$1,995.00, annually. Consider that there are over 10 million installations
>>of Linux worldwide. Do the math. We'll collect almost $20 billion in the
>>first year alone."
>>The Linux acquisition could pose a problem for IBM, which recently shelled
>>out billions for the Apache web server. Apache runs most commonly on Linux
>>machines. Now, Apache will be running on a Microsoft operating system.
"It's
>>like a high-stakes game of chess," said Indu Strypundit, an industry
pundit.
>>"And like usual, we computer users are the pawns."
>
>


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