NYCPHP Meetup

[Tim Gales]

Jeff Siegel writes:
"Microsoft applies for a patent on xml format"

Almost all the moves Microsoft makes
could be qualified as 'disturbing' -- 
Is this news -- no this it is the old 
'dog bites man' -- the article says 
something like "Microsoft is going to 
make a move to extract fees from other companies..."

Hello there guys from 'down under' -- c'mon 
why do you thing Microsoft copyrights everything?

The whole copyright law (at least in the U.S.)
is getting warped. It used to be you protected an 
author's intellectual property for a set amount of 
time (17 years I think it was) (and another amount of 
time connected to the death of the author) with the 
possibility of one extension. After that it the work 
was supposed to be place in the public domain and 
everyone could use it freely.

Now corporations (which never die) effectively can create 
copyrights which may be able to (for all real purposes) stay 
effect in perpetuity -- and never reach the public domain.

Anyway these marketing moves (attempts to extract fees from 
companies) by Microsoft are going to 'blow up' in their face.

Witness the announcement that there was no longer going to 
be any support for older windows (Windows 98 etc.) That 
'marketing move' was a blatant attempt to move customers 
to the XP licensing model and ensure that Microsoft 
would be able to 'extract their fee' -- that went over 
like a 'lead balloon'. Microsoft had to do a quick 180 
degree turn, because of the customer uproar against that 
move.

Also at Linux World the Microsoft booth has a slogan 
of (as I recall) "get all the facts" . It is as if to 
say the open source community is knowingly withholding vital 
information which could affect your decision as to 
whether to go with 'closed source' or 'open source'.

Well I'll leave that alone...


T. Gales & Associates
'Helping People Connect with Technology'

http://www.tgaconnect.com