Advice for Red Hat/Fedora

[Phil Meyer]

Gene Heskett wrote:
> Greetings folks;
>
> As a staunch believer in Open Source in the form of linux, I've always 
> wondered just where M$ would attack linux, and it appears they have found an 
> ally and a willing vehicle in Novel, who I am told now owns gnome.
>  
> I'll let the data in this link speak for itself.
>
> <http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/15/mono-contamination-in-ubuntu/>
>   
...

Might I recommend http://groklaw.net where these issues have been 
researched as closely as humanly possible.

MS is a real threat to the FOSS community, make no mistake.  However, 
most of their FUD campaigns fail under scrutiny.

The single biggest threat to FOSS are software patents.  It is 
unknowable who will pull the trigger first.  It might well be MS, but it 
could be IBM or any number of patent trolls.

If you want to really stretch the ability of your tinfoil hat, just 
consider:

1. IBM has the largest patent portfolio in the world.
2. MS has submited as many as 3,000 patent applications a year for the 
last several years.
3. IBM has sold off all corporate assets that had contractual 
obligations to MS.

Can you even imagine what would happen if IBM and MS were to declare 
open war over software patents?

We live in interesting times, to be sure.  But you can't stop the 
signal.  People will continue to code because they can and its fun and 
rewarding.