[svlug] Microsoft exec says there is no such this as Free Software

[Jarl Nilsson]

Free software is about freedom of thought.  If we think our ideas are
better than their ideas, then we should engage anyone who is in the
software business.  If the idea of free and open software  has an
advantage over the proprietary model, then it will eventually overtake
the proprietary model.  If the idea of free and open software does not
offer any advantage over the proprietary model, it will eventually
disappear.

Our community is built from the bottom up.  It is built by people who
fill a need by implementing something they want, and giving it away in
the hope that someone else has the same need.

Their community is built from the top down.  They make something because
their marketing department  told them that a they have identified a
socioeconomic group that has a perceived interest in something.  Then
they try to make people buy it.

We build what we know we need, they build what they think we need.

If price was the only deciding factor between Linux and Windows, I have
no doubt that Linux and the rest of the free software community would be
gone by now.  The edge is not the price, the edge is the community of
peers.

Let's talk to the Proprietary People.  Let's invite them.  Make them
welcome.  Let's see what they think.  Let's learn what we can from them,
and let them learn from us. 

Free is not about beer, its about speech.

    /J

On Tue, 2008-03-25 at 14:13 -0700, Christian Einfeldt wrote:

> Microsoft most certainly does not just "sell stuff".  They are in the
> business of making sure that there can be no real competitors:
> 
> http://slashdot.org/articles/08/03/25/1914233.shtml
> 
> "The South African minister of public service and administration on
> Monday addressed the opening of the Idlelo 3 free software conference
> in Dakar, Senegal, saying that software patents posed a considerable
> threat to the growth of the African software sector (video). Microsoft
> responded aggressively, saying that 'there is no such thing as free
> software. Nobody develops software for charity.'"
> 
> I surf, and surfers have a saying:  "never turn your back on the
> ocean."  The logic is that while it cannot be said that the ocean
> bears anyone malice, it is also true that the ocean has no pity, no
> remorse, and no mercy.  It just is.  Big waves can come out of
> nowhere, and if you happen to be in the way, well, that is your own
> fault.  So too with Microsoft, except that unlike the ocean, Microsoft
> has direction, course, and purpose:  eliminating all competition.
> That includes Free Software, which Microsoft regularly discloses as a
> threat in its annual 10-k filing for the SEC:
> 
> http://microsoft.shareholder.com/redesign/EdgarDetail.asp?CIK=789019&FID=1193125-07-170817&SID=07-00
> 
> The point here is not to drum up hatred against Microsoft; but rather
> to say that there is really no reason to invite them to Free Software
> gatherings, or to welcome them if they come.
> 
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