[Am-info] interview with MS software engineer

[Geoffrey]

I personally find this to be utter bullshit.  Sure it's FUD.  With all
Microsoft has done, does anyone actually believe they DON'T study GPL
code?  There's only two reasons why they would not. 1. They have a
conscience, and we can rule that out.  2. they fear legal retribution by
GPL code owners.  With their deep pockets I doubt this was well. 
Microsoft knows they could hold out in court, financially, longer then
any organization or individual that owns GPL code.

Roy Bixler wrote:
> 
> I found the following interview with a Microsoft software engineer
> 
> http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=314
> 
> to be ... representative.  I doubt Bill Gates himself could have said
> it better.
> 
> Apart from that, the most notable is the fear of the GNU General
> Public Licence, as shown here:
> 
>     We of course have a policy on GPL code: we can't look at it.  What
>     is the reason for this?  Well, in my read of the GPL it states
>     that if a work includes GPL code, or is derived from GPL code,
>     then the GPL applies to the aggregate work.  And it is very hard
>     to discern between which ideas are completely yours, and which are
>     influenced by code you have seen in the past. What this means is
>     that by incorporating, or possibly even reading GPL code, you are
>     placing your own IP in jeopardy.  It seems to me that anyone
>     producing commercial code should be very careful about the
>     implications of the GPL on their dev processes.
> 
> Of course, this might only be indirection (i.e. FUD) as the transition
> he makes from talking about using actual code to just using an idea is
> a bit suspect.
> 
> By the way, I found this from Linux Today
> 
> http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-11-20-010-20-IN-MS
> 
> where there is also a discussion forum.  Here, someone named Case
> Roole muses that this article explains why Microsoft never tries to
> employ anyone who's actively worked on GPL code.  Well, except maybe
> for Linux kernel hacker Alan Cox.
> 
> R.
> _______________________________________________
> Am-info mailing list
> Am-info@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/am-info

--
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric@denali.atlnet.com

"...the system (Microsoft passport) carries significant risks to users
that
are not made adequately clear in the technical documentation available."
- David P. Kormann and Aviel D. Rubin, AT&T Labs - Research
- http://www.avirubin.com/passport.html