Mr. Ballmer, Show Us the Code

DigDuality writes "A new campaign, Showusthecode.com, requests every leader in the Linux world, and companies invested in Linux, to stand up and demand that Steve Ballmer show the world where Linux violates Microsoft's intellectual property. He has been making these claims since the Novell-Microsoft deal. If Microsoft answers this challenge — by May 1st — then Linux developers will be able to modify the code so that it remains 'free' software. If such infringing code doesn't exist, we will have called Microsoft's bluff. And if the campaign garners enough attention and if Steve Ballmer maintains silence, then the community and companies behind Linux can take the silence for the admission that it is."

I like those odds.....

[LibertineR]

Billions and billions of dollars and an army of lawyers in one corner:

A group with an idea and a web site in the other:

I like their spirit, but my best advice would be......RUN Bitches!

And may I be the first to say...

[UbuntuDupe]

Open source Windows! Open source Windows!

(okay, probably not the first ...)

General Public...

[BlueCollarCamel]

And if the campaign garners enough attention and if Steve Ballmer maintains silence, then the community and companies behind Linux can take the silence for for the admission that it is.

And the general public still won't give a damn.

Re:Sorry guys...

[value_added]

But the text on that website is extremely unprofessional; it reads more like a rant than an open letter ...

I stopped at the

It's come to many in the Linux community's attention ...

which, unfortunately, was the very first sentence.

If I was Balmer, I'd be thinking, "WTF? I run a billion dollar corporation and I'm supposed to read and respond to this? This is even worth picking up a small stool."

Re:Sorry guys...

[Lumpy]

And that is worse than a pit stained fat guy dancing all over a stage screaming "Give it up for me!" like a doped up schoolgirl?

Yeah, Microsoft's CEO looks real Professional.

Chairs were just the beginning

[Joebert]

Oh yeah, someone's deffinately getting beaten to death with a table leg over this one.

Re:Sorry guys...

[whathappenedtomonday]

wooha.. one of the more nasty outcomes of stuck windows...

Re:General Public...

[Anonymous Coward]

M$ is a widely-known internet slang term for microsoft corporation. It is a play on "MS", a common abbreviation of "Microsoft", also incorporating the symbol for the dollar ($), a currency unit used in the USA. IT expresses that Microsoft is really all about the money, and allied with the general USA/Corporatist Evil Empire.

It is good practice to use the terms M$ and Micro$oft as much as possible for white propaganda purposes. Doing so reinforces camaraderie among freedom fighters globally who oppose Micro$oft, and reminds everyone reading that Micro$oft are USA/Corporatist scum.

Re:Strategies to fight Linux

[mgiuca]

You raise some good points but two points I'd like to make are:

• Patents are not equivalent to copied code. Patents are for methods. It's still possible to detect patent use in closed software, because the methods are still known (though it's harder to figure out how it works).
• Open source is not a wiki, it's not like anybody can contribute code. Any open source project manager will carefully check the code. (Though of course that's no guarantee it doesn't violate patents, again).

Patents are teh lame

[caller9]

Not even MS: Right click for running application list: (Jul 8 '03)
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT6590596&id= 6YwOAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=right+cli ck#PRA1-PA6,M1 [google.com]

Context sensitive menus. (Sep 2 '97)
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT5664133&id= KksiAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=context+m enu [google.com]

Tons of other crap
http://www.google.com/patents?zoom=4&q=microsoft&b tnG=Search+Patents [google.com]

Damn and the scientists thought autism was on the rise! Looks like it's been going strong and the "more reported" advocates are right.

The wireless mouse
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT7102616&id= 8Y56AAAAEBAJ&dq=microsoft&jtp=1 [google.com]

top (Shift F, N, Enter)
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT7107428&id= Hwp7AAAAEBAJ&dq=microsoft&jtp=1 [google.com]

Animation?
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPATD528550&id= ir16AAAAEBAJ&dq=microsoft&jtp=1#PPA1-IA1,M1 [google.com]

IBM's Turn
THE SPACEBAR! (some mechanical merit)
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPATD528550&id= ir16AAAAEBAJ&dq=microsoft&jtp=1#PPA1-IA1,M1 [google.com]

Just wierd - Not IBM, but contained in a search for IBM: Depth charge!
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1459793&id= MpxCAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=IBM [google.com]

Re:I like those odds.....

[Archtech]

"res ipso loquitor"

That should be "res ipsa loquitur". Classic quotes can be classy, but only if you spell them right. Two mistakes in three words does not inspire confidence.

Millons of Lines of Code

[SQLz]

Ballmer had millions of lines of infringing code in a briefcase, Darl McBride stole it, then lost it, and nobody really knows where it is now.