CD Duplicator Refuses Linux Job, Citing MS Contract 491
Jonathon writes "Seems a Microsoft imposed restraint of trade agreement and concerns about the SCO suit have prevented a New Zealand company duplicating 500 CDs for our upcoming installfest. The installfest was mentioned on /. just days ago."
Not so surprising (Score:4, Interesting)
He is not stupid, and if Linux does not watch its back, the penguin might get slain, leaving the world without a reliable and secure OS.
This could be a good thing... (Score:5, Interesting)
Keeping Track of SCO's Victims (Score:5, Interesting)
I think little by little, SCO's efforts to create FUD may inconvenience substantial numbers of people. It wouldn't be a bad idea for a website to be started, for keeping track of the myriad ways that SCO's threats of copyright infringement liability have caused tangible expense and inconvenience.
It would be a good knowledge base to have, and might come in handy for purposes of a potential class-action suit against SCO, if the company's claims of infringement are found by the courts to be without merit. In any case, this would be one way to give SCO's backers some FUD of their own.
Wuss! (Score:4, Interesting)
Besides, SCO has claimed that every single modern operating system (except Sun, they are quick to point out), is at similar risk. How could a CD company stay in business if they refused to duplicate anything McBride said was his?
Linux's image (Score:5, Interesting)
There's also the part of the contract with Microsoft. This company is obviously not going to risc their probably very important economic ties to Microsoft for a mere 500 cd copy job -- no sane business person would -- but yet again we see evidence that the strong arm tactic Microsoft has employed since the DOS days (anyone remember DR DOS?) is still very much a part of their modus operandi.
Re:YRO (Score:1, Interesting)
The automatic flood of "what does this have to do with my rights?" to all YRO threads is getting just as bad as the flood of "*BSD is Dying" posts to all BSD threads. Give it up.
Knights of Modern Royalty (Score:5, Interesting)
dominion over a parcel of land.
Microsoft granted this company so many parcels of foo, so long as they upheld Microsoft's honor. And on a larger scale, Isn't dominion what was promised to the RIAA, Media Cartels, others, in exchange for their "loyalty"?
Maybe I stretch things too far. But it seems the power of the common man has dwindled to nothing outside of a small space that's been allotted. Any attempts to reach beyond this space are met with resistance and punishment.
All these guys wanted to do was duplicate some cd's.
But that activity appears to be outside the domain Microsoft is willing to grant them. How have we gotten into the situation where we must beg persmission to do mundane tasks like this?
Is the large scale duplication of information getting to be a little too risque' for the peons? Gotta keep an eye on stuff like that now?
The box that makes up our collective free will is getting smaller and smaller as each cubic centimeter is parcelled off to the Knights of Modern Royalty.
Re:IP or Microsoft (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not so surprising (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Helping the cause (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd say so. I downloaded Knoppix last night after the previous installfest story piqued my interest.
Things to note:
I've used Micosoft software since I started using PCs.
I'd never used any version of Linux before.
I was very impressed with what I saw.
Congratulations guys, you just gained a brand spanking new Linux user.
boycotts? (Score:5, Interesting)
whilst i would have no doubt that MS are obviously a large part of their business, it is obvious that no business survives with just one good horse in their stable.
with a good enough word-of-mouth campaign it should be possible to inform local businesses and companies of the boycott, inform them of other options, and thus remove a chunk of their potential business.
500 cds may not hurt their purse strings, but 100 x 500 will.
do we forget just how much power we have?
Bet its the same trick they used with ATI (Score:2, Interesting)
utter bastards.
Microsoft never told them to not to do this! (Score:4, Interesting)
Roberts said the contract with Software Images did not contain anything that prevented Software Images working with the Open Source Society or pressing Linux CDs "or anything like that".
He said Software Images made their decision before talking to Microsoft "for their own reasons".
"It's very much a Coke/Pepsi situation. If you are an ad agency dealing with Pepsi you don't pick up business with Coke."
When the Herald pointed out that Open Source software was a competitor to Microsoft, Roberts said: "I guess so, but the NZ Open Source Society isn't."
Reliabile Duplication Services (Score:5, Interesting)
Data duplication is an important last step to any project that requires physical media for distribution. You need to know that your order is accepted and being handled and processed quickly, efficiently, and reliably. At Software Images, your data duplication order may be green-flagged by their expert account managers... only to be refused at a later date.
Your order may be refused because, on a "case by case basis", the data in question might be considered in competition with Microsoft. And as Microsoft continues to reach in to new sectors and attach new niches... who's to say if one is in direct competition or not? But you'll find out. After your order has been rejected and you are forced to scramble for another outsource provider.
Your order may also be refused if an industry competitor makes unfounded alligations as to owner of the intellectual property contained in your duplication order. No need to wait for a court ruling. No need for proof of a currently valid license. Your important job will be rejected, leaving your business high and dry.
In this tough economy, every business needs reliable outsource providers. They need to know that services will be there for that important job or rush order.
With Software Images, you won't know.
Software Images. They're not there for you. They're there for their major account - Microsoft.
Next time you wanna make Linux CDs, call Malaysia (Score:4, Interesting)
The cost of making CDs in Malaysia is EXTRA-ORDINARILY LOW - amount to LESS THAN USD 0.25 per CD, with quantities of 500 or more.
No, I am NOT a CD pirate. I just know enough people who are in this line of "work" to know the cost.
Not only the cost is low, the CDs they produce are also of high quality - rejection rate of less than 0.5 %, and turn around time can be as short as 5 days.
And since it is NEVER ILLEGAL to make Linux CD-ROMs, legality wise there shouldn't be ANY PROBLEM.
So, next time if you wanna make CDs, or you have a rush job and still want to have high quality CDs made, give Malaysia a call.
You won't be disappointed !
Small-and-Flaccid™ been doing this for years... (Score:3, Interesting)
The salesperson was very pushy and asked "well what are you going to install on there?" and I of course responded "anything - SCO Unix (note: what irony, little did I know...), Linux, BSD...why?" Well, sadly, I was informed by the salesperson there that I "would not be receiving a hardware warranty if I did not order it with Windows."
Needless to say, I walked out shortly thereafter and later learned that this was a common practice at the time and at later points in time. The moral of the story is that anything that Microsoft might have its grubby little hands, in any form, may affect the average Joe in unimaginable ways, and many imaginable ones. Just like me, and just like the folks trying to legally dupe CDs.
Re:Keeping Track of SCO's Victims (Score:4, Interesting)
Ditto. Other strategies (MS is involved with these, apparently) include Gartner going round the world promoting the SCO FUD. People need to remember that GNU and Linux took a lot of daring, creativity, powerful people etc. If they can't look browbeaters in the eye, they probably don't need the free stuff.
Rather than keeping track of SCO and MS victims, a better approach, IMO would be to give wide coverage to the views of stalwarts like Linus, RMS, ESR etc. Groups like LinuxTag in Germany and others in Poland and Australia have done great pro-active work and have asked SCO to shut up.
Since GNU and Linux derive from international efforts, and benefit all nations as well, (unlike SCO-MS which benefit only the US, primarily), the true facts about SCO must be beamed across mainstream media throughout the world.
In fact, Slashdot could avoid devious SCO interviews, and focus on anti-FUD efforts. HP withdrew it's Linux PC notebook offerings in Thailand, and MS is offering XP and Office for $36!!
SCO's case is about contract dispute, but many in the media talk about IP violations, as if they knew what that meant. Let's all adopt a healthy Dirtier-than-SCO attitude - let's have a
Re:yes, but it's very limited (Score:3, Interesting)
Frankly, I am for this - not the prohibition of women (my wife), atheists (myself), and homosexuals (my best friend), mind you, but the right for a private establishment to allow or not allow anyone they choose for any reason.
Notice I say PRIVATE. The Boy Scouts and The Masters are private organizations, paid for by individuals, not the government, i.e. tax dollars. Everybody pays taxes (well, in theory), so everyone should have access to publically/federally funded organizations. Individuals fund private organizations, so those individuals should then also decide who is eligible for the benefits enjoyed by members of said organizations.
On a smaller scale, saying that you don't think private organizations should be able to discriminate would be akin to saying that you couldn't keep someone out of your house for a prejudicial reason. What's prejudicial? Shouldn't matter, it's YOUR house and you should have a say in who comes in the door. The same goes on a larger scale. The Masters does not prevent women from playing golf and the Boy Scouts don't prevent atheist from learning how to survive in the woods. Nor does the KKK prevent blacks from being white supremacists (Laugh, it's a joke. And also a Chappelle Show reference). So why not move along to another club that will have you as a member, or start your own, rather than clashing with a group that doesn't want you?
I know I am putting many words in your mouth in this reply, but I'm always making this point with other people when the topic comes up so I figured I'd translate it to written form for the purpose of slashdot discussion. If the views I'm replying to don't reflect your opinions on the matter, no offense intended.
Chris
Re:Next time you wanna make Linux CDs, call Malays (Score:5, Interesting)
They are also actively promoting Linux to businesses who are looking for alternatives to microsoft during the latest software piracy crackdown.
Pirates have brought linux to Malaysia! Pirates aren't that bad after all ;)
Re:I have a vision..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not so surprising (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds rather like being a commissar under Stalin. Everything's all fine and dandy until one day the secret police are knocking your door down and dragging you off to a re-education camp in Siberia.
Stephen
Re:The company's name (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Reliabile Duplication Services (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:What are we trying to achive?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Everyone, submit this story (Score:3, Interesting)
I want to believe that this can't be completely legal. Does Thailand have any "illegal dumping" laws like (IIRC) the U.S.? Also, if this deal goes through, it might make interesting ammunition the next time Microsoft tries to "estimate" costs of illegal copying. Wait, how much is Windows really worth again? Retail, OEM, or $6? Along those lines, I wonder if any of Microsoft's big customers will be annoyed that someone else is getting a much better deal than they are.
Or lie. (Score:2, Interesting)
Comcast doesn't seem to care what I run; they say something to the effect of, "OK, well you'll have to set that up yourself." As long as my DHCP client works, they don't seem to care that it's OpenBSD. I know I've checked my end, so I sometimes tell them I don't run Windows (if they start going into details), and sometimes just tell them what they want to hear. Besides, the lights on the cablemodem are generally what they ask about first, and they can do some diagnostics (and even upgrade the firmware) from their end.
If they service your area, Speakeasy DSL is actually friendly to *nix-like operating systems (and people who want to run servers). Sadly, now my cable bandwidth has been increased and I am lazy. Maybe one day Comcast will actually become the NAT/upload fascists they claim to be.
Re:The Installfest (Score:3, Interesting)
How much does it cost to ship 50 freshly burned Knoppix CDs to NZ by Saturday? Can you give me an address so I can price shipping?
Screw the CD duplicators (Score:3, Interesting)
-They pop open IE in Windows and go to the "Install Linux" web site and start the procedure.
-It brings down a self extracting tar.bz2 archive which expands to %TEMP%.
-It also creates another file that stores the actual location of %TEMP% in Windowspeak.
-It then executes a Windows based binary that will format a floppy, a bootable ZIP or Jaz disk or burn a CD-R/RW as bootable medium.
-It also unpacks file that contains an ext2 filesystem to %TEMP%
When the floppy, Zip, Jaz or CD-R/RW are complete, the user is instructed to reboot with the new boot disk. When they do, they are first presented with a partition manager that allows them to resize their Windows partition and set up space for the Linux installation. Then the file with the ext2 filesystem is mounted and the real GUI based installation begins pulling the distro from the internet. (Network configuration, X with framebuffer support, etc... has already completed in the background)
Obviously this would only be suitable for people with high bandwidth, but that could be solved too... The installer should allow the user to pause the installation and shutdown so that they can do it in phases. When they reboot, the installer would see the partially installed system and allow them to continue from where the log indicates that the install left off.
CDs need to go away as an installation medium.
Re:Not so surprising (Score:4, Interesting)
"SCO is about to attack BSD, too."
Umm, where did you read that? I'd just like to read it myself...
Linked For Your Pleasure! In this article [byte.com], Chris Sontag makes the case that essentially every operating system on earth is now SCO property. Somehow Sun is "in the clear,"but Microsoft is not. Key elements of this argument:
1) The original AT&T contracts deeded all IP derived from Unix back to AT&T
2) BSD is derived from this codebase as are all sysV implementations. Microsoft and Apple's current OS Offerings owe at least something to BSD.
3) The BSD case covered pre sysV code, which the SCO released under BSD license a few years ago in any case.
4) BSD has been contributed to since the case in 1994, and in some cases has received Linux code.
5) SCO alleges that the BSD folks have not lived up to their end of the 1994 agreement
It's a scary case, but honestly I don't see how any judge could grant such sweeping power to SCO. It would destroy the IT market utterly and cast a chilling effect on any computer science innovation in the US. This case is going to ultimately end up having to decide many age-old issues which have caused us problems such as people who do not create IP but lay claim to it after buying bits of companies then exercise their rights in a much more egregious manner than the original IP holder would have, and the court-testng of the GPL, among other things.
Microsoft's violations (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Helping the cause (Score:3, Interesting)
EMAIL the CEO (Score:3, Interesting)
Cc: logan.jay@softwareimages.com, cristian.giurgiu@softwareimages.com,
rudy.clavel@softwareimages.com
Subject: Refusal of Linux CD Order
Dear Chris,
I have just read with dismay the Slashdot and NZ Herald stories regarding your refusal to copy CD images of the Linux operating system for use at an
upcoming Linux Installfest to be held in New Zealand.
I understand that this refusal is due to a deal that your organisation has with Microsoft Corporation, your unfounded protestations of copyright infringement concerning Linux not withstanding.
I believe that you are fully within your rights to make such a deal, sordid though I believe it to be, and to refuse work orders from your customers as you see fit.
Like many others however, I dislike your decision and chose not to use your services or buy your products until such time as your decision is reversed and you make adequate restitution to the Open Source community.
Further, I am in the process of contacting every person I can think of who might be in a position to do business with you to explain my decision, in the hope that they also may chose to do business with one of your competitors.
I hope that the loss of business that results, along with the terrible press you have been getting encourages you to rethink your decision.
Please withold any platitudes regarding the SCO Group suit against IBM, they are neither relevant to your decision or in themselves have any basis in fact.
Regards,