[News] Mark Shuttleworth Takes Another Hit at Microsoft Deals, Sidles with the FSF (2 Interviews)
Roy Schestowitz
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| The founder of the Free Software Foundation asks readers whether they will
| fight for freedom or be too lazy to resist.
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http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;211669437
Mark Shuttleworth Interview
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| 9) Do you think Microsoft's patent deals are just an attempt to slow down
| Linux, or do you think there might be some genuine interest in cooperation?
|
| That's a complicated question because it suggests that Microsoft has one
| single opinion. But like any large organisation, Microsoft will have people
| internal to it who have a variety of different opinions. So I definitely do
| believe that some of the folks who are working at Microsoft on the patent
| deals have a genuine interest in seeing interoperability across Windows and
| across the free software platform. Unfortunately, I think other people at
| Microsoft do feel it's a way of limiting the field of engagement between the
| free software world and the proprietary software world, and making sure that
| Microsoft effectively has a competitive advantage in that engagement.
|
| At this stage, all of the deals that have been announced really are very
| advantageous to Microsoft, and create real barriers to the complete a
| pervasive adoption of free software. In addition to that, I do think that
| Microsoft attempts to have its own file formats declared a standard in very
| bad faith. Because they're pretending to create a standard when in fact the
| only thing that comes close to implementation of that standard is the
| Microsoft Office application. And the real value of a standard is to have
| something which is agreed upon by lots of different groups and implemented by
| lots of different groups. And that's just not the case with Microsoft's file
| formats. More importantly, I don't think they will allow other people to
| implement the standard, they'll simply change it to suit themselves.
|
| So, Microsoft is a large organisation and I think there are people with good
| ideas and with bad ideas. It's not simple. I don't think we can simply say
| that the whole organisation is being constructive or unconstructive. I think
| we have to look at specific initiatives. Unfortunately, their OpenXML
| document standard initiative is being driven with poor intention at heart.
|
| 10) While Richard Stallman is an outspoken critic of the so-called
| tivoisation, Linus Torvalds just doesn't mind when Linux is used in
| proprietary devices. What is your stance?
|
| I do think that DRM, tivoisation, or locked down hardware and software are
| all a real threat to continued spread of free software. And so I very much
| support Richard Stallman [interview] and the Free Software Foundation in
| bringing those issues to the front in the debate of GPLv3.
|
| At the same time I think we have to respect the kernel community's choice to
| license their software under whatever license they choose. And the kernel
| community has consistently taken quite an open approach to allowing people to
| do pretty much what they liked with the Linux kernel code. It's not entirely
| true, but it's true in many cases. The main thing to point out though is that
| this really is not an issue for free software. In Ubuntu we ship software
| under, maybe, a hundred and fifty different licenses. So adding GPLv3 as the
| hundred a fifty-first license is not a problem at all and Linux will continue
| to progress, regardless of whether the kernel team adopts v2 or v3. As for
| myself, I think v3 is a very good license, I think it went through a very
| strong public process, and I think it's a much better license in the end than
| it was when it began. So I think there's every reason for the kernel
| community to consider it, but if they choose not to adopt it then that's fine
| too.
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http://www.abclinuxu.cz/clanky/rozhovory/mark-shuttleworth?page=1
Related:
Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community
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| "That's extortion and we should call it what it is," he said. "To say, as
| [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet
| liability, that's just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that
| game. On the other side, if Microsoft is concerned about its intellectual
| property, there is no one in the free software community that wants to
| violate anyone's IP. Disclose the patents and we'll fix the code.
| Alternatively, move on."
|
| Microsoft has said it does disclose which patents are being violated, but
| only in one-on-one conversations with vendors. To Shuttleworth, that is not
| disclosure, because patents are public documents.
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http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2167193,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
[Mark Shuttleworth Interview]
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| Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won't
| say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: "It's an
| unsafe neighbourhood, why don't you pay me 20 bucks and I'll make
| sure you're okay," that's illegal. It's racketeering. What Microsoft
| is doing with intellectual property is exactly the same. It's a great
| company and I have great admiration for it, but this was not a
| well considered position.
|
| So you wouldn't do a deal?
|
| No, absolutely not. But the time will come when the folks at
| Microsoft who have a clear vision for the company as a participant
| in this community, rather than as a hostile antagonist, will win.
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