Hi! Trying to kill the keyboard, jonathan@aracnet.net produced:
Don't tell anyone I said this; I'd get burned at the stake if this slipped into say, the SuSE list (G) but why doesn't M$ distribute Linux in an NT/Unix bundle? *Then* they can boast about integration. They can add on to the open source kernel, keep their addons proprietary (as long as that will last) and people will love Linux because, "Hey, it's Microsoft"
Well, actually, doing that is kind of ... near impossible, luckily, thanks to the GPL. They can make proprietary programs and run them under Linux. But they can't make a program which is partly (or partly derived) from Linux code and not make it GPL'd, too. Meaning they'd had to give out the code, allow everyone to give it away, copy it, munge it, and then sell it/give it away ... and with the kind of source M$ produces, they just can't do that, people would ROFLOLAndDie ... or scream in horror. They can't even use libraries under the GPL for proprietary programs (but proprietary programs are allowed to be linked to libraries under the GPLibraryL). Anyway, M$ will not successfully be able to make a stand where open sourced programms are better, faster, much more stable ... etc. E.g. compare sendmail to M$ Exchange ... -Wolfgang -- PGP 2 welcome: Mail me, subject "send PGP-key". If you've nothing at all to hide, you must be boring. Unsolicited Bulk E-Mails: *You* pay for ads you never wanted. Is our economy _so_ weak we have to tolerate SPAMMERS? I guess not. -- To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e