[ILUG] email sent to politicians about Mary Hannafin'sdecisionnotto use open source

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Martin List-Petersen (martin at list-petersen.net):

> I do fully agree. People should realise, that this not is a war
> against Microsoft, but it is about the freedom of having access to the
> source, modifying it if you wish and having more to choose from than
> one company (on every part of the operating system).

Access to source is important, and permission to modify it, but neither
is the key attribute of open source.  Ever heard of Microsoft
Corporation's "Shared Source Initiative"?  It's a programme to give
selected customers and business partners access to Microsoft source code
under tight legal restrictions.  

Notably missing -- and, in fact, light years away, according to accounts  
from some who've seen details -- is any legal right to independently
maintain and publicly distribute the codebases in question.  _That's_ 
what open source is all about.  (We call it the "right to fork" -- see
"Fear of Forking" on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Licensing_and_Law .)

So, be careful what you ask for; you might get it.  ;->

(A proper reply to Mary Hannafin's statement might politely call its 
bluff on open standards, too:  Microsoft Corp. has never met an 
open standard it can stand!  Discuss a few, and point out that the 
best way to adhere to them is through open source implementations.)

-- 
Cheers,                              Linux: Good, fast, AND cheap.
Rick Moen
rick at linuxmafia.com