LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Ian Loxton <ilox@airnet.com.au>
  To  : Linux SA <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 15:13:19 +0930

Gates on MS, SCO and Linux

 Gates Says SCO's Case Against IBM Will Harm Linux's
 Commercial Prospects Contends Microsoft IP likely violated
 by open source code
By Paula Rooney
CRN
2:46 PM EST Fri., July 25, 2003 

 Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates
 said the intellectual property battle between SCO and IBM is
 hurting the business of Linux. 

 Gates, speaking to financial analysts at the company's
 Redmond, Wash., headquarters Thursday, said it's unclear if
 Microsoft is benefiting from customer worries about the
 liability of deploying Linux when the lawsuit between SCO
 and IBM hasn't been resolved. 

 However, Gates said the controversy has exposed a
 fundamental weakness of Linux--that the General Public
 License (GPL) makes it difficult for companies to engage in
 the cross-licensing deals that have become standard in the
 software industry. 

 That's a big Achilles heel, Gates said. 

 Gates predicted that the intellectual property and GPL
 issues will eventually create enough inertia to hurt Linux's
 acceptance in commercial settings.

[continues]
http://www.crn.com/components/Nl/direct/article.asp?ArticleID=43532


-- 
LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/ IRC: #linuxsa on irc.freenode.net
To unsubscribe from the LinuxSA list:
  mail linuxsa-request@linuxsa.org.au with "unsubscribe" as the subject