Life, liberty and the pursuit of free software
Microsoft says open-source software is un-American. Has the company completely lost
its mind?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Andrew Leonard
Feb. 15, 2001 | Once upon a time, Microsoft executives confined their criticism of
Linux and free software to old-fashioned FUD -- fear, uncertainty and doubt. Linux
wasn't good enough for enterprise-class systems, they declared. You couldn't get
quality support, and it was too hard and clunky for average users.
Fair enough. But now, judging by comments made Wednesday by Microsoft's operating
systems chief Jim Allchin (and reported by Bloomberg News), it turns out that free and
open-source software is something far worse than anyone could possibly have imagined.
It is nothing less than a threat to the American way of life!
According to Allchin, "Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer ... I can't
imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the
intellectual-property business."
"I'm an American; I believe in the American way," continued Allchin. "I worry if the
government encourages open source, and I don't think we've done enough education of
policymakers to understand the threat."
The first reaction a listener might have to these words, after guffawing in
dumbfounded amazement, might be, "Wow, that Linux stuff must be pretty good, if it is
scaring Microsoft so much that the company has started redbaiting and agitating for
government action."
But after a little reflection, we might ask: Just what is the American way?
Back when Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, he made an
important tweak to the classic Lockean formulation on inalienable human rights: "Life,
liberty, and property." Jefferson changed it to "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness."
Open-source software is becoming big business these days -- Microsoft's gibbering fear
is clear evidence of that. But originally, free software grew out of individual
passion. Richard Stallman, who worked on the GNU project, and Linus Torvalds and the
thousands of other developers who created Linux, did it not to make a buck, but
because they wanted to. They were pursuing their own happiness without regard to
revenue generation or market share.
What could be more American than that?
And shame on Microsoft, for asking the government to bail it out of a situation in
which it suddenly seems unable to compete.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
About the writer
Andrew Leonard is a senior editor at Salon.com and author of Salon's Free Software
Project, an online book-in-progress exploring the history and culture of the free
software movement.
Sound Off
Send us a Letter to the Editor
Related stories
Linux and Microsoft -- together at last
A new round of benchmark tests pits free-software hackers against the gang from
Redmond in a race for operating-system supremacy.
By Andrew Leonard
06/16/99
Microsoft's flawed Linux vs. NT shootout
The test lab looked for help online. But did it really want answers?
By Andrew Leonard
04/27/99
Dave Hardy
Systems Manager/DBA
Vermont Health Care Administration
89 Main Street
Drawer 20
Montpelier, VT 05620-3101
802-828-2914
FAX: 802-828-2949
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
**********************************************************
To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the
*body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter:
unsubscribe gnhlug
**********************************************************
