171 lines
8.2 KiB
HTML
171 lines
8.2 KiB
HTML
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<title>Microsoft's New Briar Patch LG #73</title>
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<H4 ALIGN="center">
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Microsoft's New Briar Patch</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:jimd@starshine.org">Jim Dennis</a></H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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By now most of use with an interest in the software industry and/or in
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the free software movement have probably heard of Microsoft's latest
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legal maneuvers, an offer to settle the remaining local antitrust cases
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(brought by many state's attorneys general) by <b>providing computers and
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software</b> to U.S. public schools.
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</p><p>
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<blockquote>
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"Please don't put me in de <b>bre'r patch</b>! Anything
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but that!"<CITE>-- Uncle Remus</CITE>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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I can't believe that I'm alone in seeing this as playing into
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Microsoft's hands. If practically all of our children are raised
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running nothing but Microsoft software, then that's what they'll expect
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in college and throughout their careers.
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</p><p>
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Microsoft should be paying dearly to gain such a lucrative franchise.
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This is a far cry from punishment or remediation. Indeed, it is
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antithetical to restoring competition to the software industry.
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</p><p>
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As a Linux user and enthusiast, I don't care about Microsoft. I never
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believed that the Federal antitrust case would be effective; and I
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see the various state and private suits as being mere echos to that.
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The Europeans might see more effective measures taken by their EC,
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but that is unlikely. However, as an observer of the software industry,
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and a veteran in various segments of that market I have to re-iterate my
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views on the matter.
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</p><p>
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The only effective and fair remedies in this case must relate to the
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software. Specifically Microsoft must be required to publish source
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code to complete and working reference implementations of each protocol,
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API, and file format that they use in any of their applications and
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operating systems. They must be forbidden from distributing new software
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until the reference implementations are published. The reference
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implementations must be in the public domain (freely usable by all for
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free and commercial works).
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</p><p>
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In other words, given that Microsoft has become the standard in the
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industry (at least in part through illegal and anti-competitive means)
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then they bear the burden of providing enough information to everyone
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else to <b>ensure</b> interoperability.
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</p><p>
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We could argue endlessly about the adequacy of documentation, and the
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need to publish "internal" programming interfaces or "administrative"
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protocols. This would be a miscarriage of justice. Requiring a reference
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implementation for a set of command line primitive utilities, in
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ANSI standard C and/or C++ (no MSC or MFC entanglements) provides an
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unambiguous standard for their compliance. Either the requisite reference
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tools can perform the designated (minimal) functions over their protocols,
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on their target files, or calling their OS/library components, or MS is
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fined and enjoined from further distribution.
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</p><p>
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Note that this approach does not force MS to publish the sources to their
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OS or their applications. They are free to create an independent reference
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implementation. Of course that would be a expense to them; the cheapest
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path to compliance would be for them to engineer their software with a
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core (that would separately constitute the reference suite) and then
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add their UI elements on top of that.
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</p><p>
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However, it is vital that they be prohibited from releases new software
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until the reference suite is shown to provide the requisite interoperability.
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It's also critical that the remedy encompass protocols, APIs, and file formats.
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</p><p>
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Any less is just another example of government and big business posturing
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to the public while cutting their own backroom deals to line the pockets
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of the politicians and lockout the "little guy" businesses.
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</p></body></html>
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<SPACER TYPE="vertical" SIZE="30">
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<P>
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<H4><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/note.gif">Jim Dennis</H4>
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<EM>Jim Dennis
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is the proprietor of <A href="http://www.starshine.org">
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Starshine Technical Services</A>.
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His professional experience includes work in the technical
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support, quality assurance, and information services (MIS)
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departments of software companies like
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<A href="http://www.quarterdeck.com"> Quarterdeck</A>,
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<A href="http://www.symantec.com"> Symantec/
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Peter Norton Group</A>, and
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<A href="http://www.mcafee.com"> McAfee Associates</A> -- as well as
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positions (field service rep) with smaller VAR's.
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He's been using Linux since version 0.99p10 and is an active
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participant on an ever-changing list of mailing lists and
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newsgroups. He's just started collaborating on the 2nd Edition
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for a book on Unix systems administration.
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Jim is an avid science fiction fan -- and recently got
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married at the World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim.</EM>
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
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<P> <hr> <!-- P -->
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2001, Jim Dennis.<BR>
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Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
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Published in Issue 73 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2001</H5>
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