On Sun, Nov 19, 2006 05:28:50 AM -0500, Mark Hounschell (dmarkh@cfl.rr.com) wrote:
M. Fioretti wrote:
For anyone to think that the great majority of end users can financially survive till they see the _end_ of such a trial is ridiculous. Microsoft doesn't need to be right. It only needs to say "we may sue end users, since they'll go bankrupt for legal fees much before the court finds us wrong".
The _end_ would be sure and swift. There would be no trail. It would be dismissed as frivolous.
So, only trials where there *is* an actual case happen? Get real, please.
I said nothing about end users anyway. MS wouldn't dare sue me or you for using OS linux. Although you might run and turn all your linux boxes off and claim defeat right away, I have nothing to loose and I would fight to the death.
If MS _did_ sue you (or me, of course), you would just fight to bankruptcy, not death, as others have already pointed out. This said, of course Microsoft would never sue you, me or any other individual for what he or she does at home, for the same reason they don't do it to the millions of home Windows installations which are illegal _beyond_ any doubt: they don't need to do it. "End users" means all those who download or buy software just to _use_ it. This includes Public Administrations, large corporations and small businesses. If they succeed in scaring them away from FOSS with Ballmer-style declarations (regardless of what the Novell FAQ says) they'll keep to continue the end users who do pay (sometimes with our taxes) locked in. At that point, whatevery I or you run at home couldn't matter less. Ciao, Marco -- The right way to make everybody love Free Standards and Free Software: http://digifreedom.net/node/73 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org