We need to take a stand on opensource now

There are widespread rumors that Microsoft is up to something with
OpenSource. And they are bound to screwing around with what it means. It
will be easy for them due to their market share.

We need to take a public stand on what opensource means and is as soon as
possible. And these dirt wars between ESR and Bruce need to be over.

We will get railroaded if we are not ready.

On Thu, Apr 08, 1999 at 06:56:33 -0700, Christoph Lameter wrote:
> There are widespread rumors that Microsoft is up to something with
> OpenSource.

E.g. http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990407S0035

> And they are bound to screwing around with what it means.

Undoubtedly. But let's not be too hasty and say they're doing so
deliberately already.

E.g.,
:We are trying to understand this whole notion of open source," Ballmer
:said. "Most CIOs don't want their people to touch the source code," but
:some customers find "a certain comfort level" in having access to the code.

We can't tell for sure if this is a literal quote, or a distorted one. And
even if it were literal, it may still be the informal meaning ("source
available") to which "open source" often refers when used colloquially.

It's official statements, press releases etc. we need to look extremely
careful at. In press articles, the distortion may well be caused by the
media not understanding what Open Source is.

Ray
--
PATRIOTISM A great British writer once said that if he had to choose
between betraying his country and betraying a friend he hoped he would
have the decency to betray his country.
- The Hipcrime Vocab by Chad C. Mulligan

> There are widespread rumors that Microsoft is up to something with
> OpenSource. And they are bound to screwing around with what it means. It
> will be easy for them due to their market share.
>
> We need to take a public stand on what opensource means and is as soon as
> possible. And these dirt wars between ESR and Bruce need to be over.
>
> We will get railroaded if we are not ready.

What is the current status for "Open Source"? Rumors say we lost the (TM), because
the term 'Open Source' is not individually enough.

Is this true?

Regards,

Hartmut

There were afew questions that the US Patent and Trademark office posed to
Bruce.. who gave them to ESR to answer, instead of SPI, the true holder of
the mark.. and ESR chose not to respond in the timelimit the gov't set so the
mark expired. After the mark expired, ESR posted a note on his opinion of
the mark being too general for trademarking...

On Mon, Sep 13, 1999 at 12:53:07PM +0200, Hartmut Koptein wrote:
> > There are widespread rumors that Microsoft is up to something with
> > OpenSource. And they are bound to screwing around with what it means. It
> > will be easy for them due to their market share.
> >
> > We need to take a public stand on what opensource means and is as soon as
> > possible. And these dirt wars between ESR and Bruce need to be over.
> >
> > We will get railroaded if we are not ready.
>
> What is the current status for "Open Source"? Rumors say we lost the (TM), because
> the term 'Open Source' is not individually enough.
>
> Is this true?
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Hartmut
>
>
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