will lack of corporate support kill off Linux?

[Mike Coleman]

Brian Densmore <DensmoreB at ctbsonline.com> writes:
> > One thing that companies should do if they are afraid of M$'s license
> > police is to repartition their hard drives and install Linux.  When the M$
> > weenies come around, boot to Linux and tell them to f*ck off.  Then boot
> > back if you want to.  They have no right to examine your hard drive's
> > contents, just outward appearances of the system.
>
> Sorry, I have to disagree with this statement.  If a company or individual
> pays for a XXX user/desktop license of anything.  Then the selling company
> has a right to verify compliance. Bottom line is the product is sold on a
> per use license.  If you are willing to pay for such a restricted use
> license, then you should have the moral rectitude to abide by it.  I am no
> longer willing to buy into the whole one license, one use crap.

I agree with Brian on this.  Microsoft's heavy-handed licenses and the BSA's
mob-like enforcement tactics may be outrageous, but that's not our problem.
As long as these agreements were lawfully made, I think they *should* be
followed and enforced.  If we aid in the illegal use of their software, we're
just being enablers (see 'http://zgp.org/~dmarti/linuxmanship/#enabler' in
Marti's excellent article).

It's better in the long run if companies and individuals carry the full weight
of their Microsoft problem.  The more doors the BSA breaks down and the more
people Microsoft slaps around, the more people will come to realize the true
nature of the situation.  (Individuals and companies *should* always be free
to choose other more reasonable alternatives, which is why Microsoft's illegal
behaviors should be enjoined.)

What you *can* do is make sure these issues don't get swept under the rug.  If
you lose a week or a month futzing around with IIS bugs, make sure that gets
reported.

--Mike

-- 
Mike Coleman, mkc at mathdogs.com                                      Windows XP
http://www.mathdogs.com                                               Linux :)
problem solving, expert software development