Yes, many of us read about their new approach in the Halloween documents last year. http://www.opensource.org/halloween/ This isn't news. And it doesn't make my heart bleed. Let's see, where's my violin? David Poehlman writes: > > Microsoft warns of open source threat > By > Ian Fried > Special to ZDNet News > February 5, 2003, 4:34 AM PT > URL: > http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-983398.html > > Microsoft is warning that the success of the open-source movement could hurt > its sales, potentially forcing the software giant to cut prices and > sacrifice > both revenue and profits. > > "To the extent the open-source model gains increasing market acceptance, > sales of the company's products may decline, the company may have to reduce > the > prices it charges for its products, and revenues and operating margins may > consequently decline," Microsoft said in a filing last week with the > Securities > and Exchange Commission. > > In the filing, the Redmond, Wash.-based company paints a picture of two > contrasting business models--its commercial software development model, in > which > a single company bears the costs of developing software and reaps the > financial benefits of the work; and the open-source model, in which, says > Microsoft, > "software is produced by global 'communities' of programmers, and the > resulting software and the intellectual property contained therein is > licensed to > end users at little or no cost." > > A Microsoft representative was not immediately available for comment. > > Companies often include cautionary language in their regulatory filings > about potential risk factors. Other threats listed by Microsoft include > potential > litigation, the fact that many of the company's newer products are > unprofitable, and "General Economic and Geo-Political Risks." > > However, Microsoft has long criticized the economic underpinnings of the > open-source movement. > > In the regulatory filing, Microsoft specifically calls out the threat that > some government agencies may switch to open-source software. > South Africa > is promoting the concept, and Germany is > paying > companies to build equivalents to Microsoft's Outlook e-mail software and > Exchange communications software. > > The pressure from the open-source movement is not just financial, as the > availability of open-source software puts pressure on Microsoft to open up > the > code that underlies its own products. > > The company has already agreed to open its usually secret source code to the > British government. > > News.com's Stephen Shankland contributed to this report. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 _______________________________________________ Blinux-list@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list