Microsoft is giving up patent trolling against free software projects?
Photo source: wikimedia commons, photo by Dcoetzee
Just came over some links ... (sorry if you've seen them before ... I haven't).
TechCrunch: Microsoft joins the LOT network to help fight patent trolls
ZDNet: Microsoft Open Sources its entire patent portfolio
The ZDNet title may be a bit too optimistic, FSF welcomes the move, but does warn that it does not necessary stop Microsoft from continued patent trolling of free software distributors:
FSF: Statement on Microsoft joining the Open Invention Network
So what's going on?
Microsoft has traditionally been openly hostile to free and open source software - probably one of the reasons have been that free software has been the only concept that could seriously challenge their de-facto monopoly situation when it comes to operating systems on desktop systems, office software and many other software packages. Recently we've seen a shift in attitude. I believe there are multiple reasons for that, for one thing Microsoft isn't as dominant as it used to be, Android is now the most popular operating system, they still have a pretty good grip on office software in the public sectors and in the schools, but Google is becoming a big competitor in this space. Microsoft has always been a very bullish company, because "an 800 lb gorilla sits where it wants to". Guess what, Microsoft is not the biggest gorilla in the room anymore, it knows that, and it has to do what it can to gain goodwill - including "embracing" open source software.
It hasn't been sticking that very deep - there is an article on techrights that is worth reading, it covers some of the patent trolling and bullying that has been going on from Microsofts side - until now - like, Microsoft is earning quite decent money on Android, as it claims the operating system is breaching several of Microsoft's patents - companies like Samsung pays serious money to Microsoft to avoid legal problems.
Weather such practice will stop or not ... well, do you believe in it? :-)
Well, Microsloth got so big by stealing all the good software innovations out there. Well, those they couldn't just buy.
I have hated the touch of Microsloth. It has corrupted and destroyed everything it has touched. And my list of complaints is long, and deep. (yes, i have read a lot of their underlying code in my days)
They have written back doors into everything. And are one of the leading edge sources of more privacy encroachment. It would not surprise me one bit if they are just an arm of the NSA.
I mean, what kind of a corporation gets away with selling you an OS, but if you want it to be secure, we recommend you purchase this software to protect it... In any other field, that's extortion.
So, what is Microsloth up to?
I don't trust anything they do.
And this latest move is probably a two faced approach.
Lull in the open source community, while saving money that they were losing on lawsuits.
BTW, you don't own your computer, Microsloth does.
Just try to sell it.
Like most other sheep, I didn't see any problem with the Microsoft dominance. We were running with 7bit on the Norwegian Fidonet, and I was arguing heavily for the adoption of 8bit, using Microsoft code pages, because that's what "everyone" was using anyway.
Windows 2 was a toy, nobody was seriously using that - but with Windows 3.0 there was some multitasking, so I installed it (a pirated copy of course - it's always easier to stick to payware when one doesn't have to pay anyway) and ran it for two weeks.
I concluded "Windows isn't for me", and that was last time I ever had Windows on my own computer. I went for OS/2 and later it was Linux.
Over the years I've truly learned to hate Microsoft and came to see their dominance and bullying as a huge problem.
I've never bought a new computer personally with Microsoft pre-installed, but that has caused quite some troubles. Often I've had to buy second hand computers. Getting everything to work has also been a huge problem, particularly on new hardware - hardware vendors are typically forced to support only Microsoft, often Linux support has been made through reverse-engineering. Luckily things are moving in the right direction on this front.
There actually isn't any problem with Microsloth dominance. The best outcome (for the world) is computers everywhere that everyone can use without any steep learning curves.
The problem with microsloth is they did a great job on the shiny interface, and a lousy, shitty job underneath. It was like that Mustang the released back in the 90s. They had the 8 cylinder version and a 4 cylinder version. MS is like that 4 cylinder version. Visual C++ was just a bunch of C++ wrappers of C functions, it was actually nothing great except the programming interface.
And so it goes with all other microsloth projects i had to work with. If you ever got under the hood, it was just scary!
Today, Microsloth computers should come with a sticker Virus Inside. There are so many exploitable surfaces, besides the blatent ones written for the NSA. I mean, who in their right mind allows EVERYBODY to just dump programs into /windows ?
What really gets me about Microsloth, that you brought up is the drivers. Microsloth forces the vendors to write the drivers, and to update the drivers whenever Microsloth makes a change.
Let's for a moment consider a world where all Microsoft products were perfect - I would still have big issues with their dominance.
It is impossible for other companies to compete. Ok, if Microsofts products were perfect, it would be no need for competition. Still, it's always nice to have alternatives. People are different, one size doesn't fit everyone.
Microsoft efficiently defines how a computer is to be used. I have great issues with that, because I want to use the computer in different ways than what Microsoft has decided (at least the Microsoft ecosystem is a bit more open than the Apple ecosystem).
A monopolists can jack up the prices a lot.
A monopolist has no significant need to spend resources on R&D and improve the products. Oh well, if the products are perfect, perhaps that's not needed. In practice new versions of Windows have often been dropped just when Microsoft has felt that competing products have had a chance to get a small slice of the cake.
There are countless of other reasons ... in general, it's a very, very bad idea to let one company get such a dominant position as Microsoft (had) and as Facebook has today.
These are reasons i really like where linux has been going.
Fairly standard out of the box, but completely customizable.
And if Microsloth was perfect, then all your complaints would be met. With affordable prices, continued support, and why would you need anything else?
But, we know that Microsloth is not perfect, and so they have fallen short of the communities needs, while doing all the bad things that monopolies do.
The big thing i would like to see is in the future is a linux computer.
Develop CPUs and GPUs that work with linux.
Probably something like an Amiga where you had a processor for subsystems like drive access and UART processing.
Imagine designing a small processor, where you could have a bunch of them in a chip on board build. Where one of the processors was designed to run the linux kernel, and only the kernel, so that it never gave up control, and was always handling processes. It wouldn't have to be a very big processor, just efficient.
Hi @tobixen!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 3.847 which ranks you at #4206 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 15 places in the last three days (old rank 4221).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 324 contributions, your post is ranked at #246.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
I worked for a school for about 6 weeks helping with their computers and chromebooks. There is definitely a move away from tradition computer labs that house Microsoft products. It will take a few more years for the old school teachers to retire and for the legacy programs to be ported into newer technology.
We are close to the transition but I believe that there are still some steps that need to take place before tablets take over.
You don't have to be the biggest. Being first to suceed or best in the moment also carries weight.
Free offer koi bhi company APNI chavi sudharne or market me bne rahne or liye Karti h.
Is Samay market mein bahut competitor hai Aage badhane ke like free offer Dete Hain.
I am already using lubuntu Linux software safe end good software for us I am not use window that's not compatible.