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Re: [linux-team] Fwd: MICROSOFT ACQUIRES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM FOR $18 BILLION



Dany De Bontridder wrote:

> J'espère que ce qui suit est une stupide blague, pas drôle du tout. Dès que je
> sais d'où cela vient, je vous le signalerais.
>
> Mais considérons un instant que cette nouvelle est vraie, que peut-on faire ?
> Inutile de reparler de la GPL, Gnu ou autre. Il n'est pas impossible que Linux
> 3.0.0 soit une OS commerciale malgré tout: cela s'est déjà vu un produit Gnu
> qui devenait commercial. Mais de quoi disposons-nous pour empêcher ce scénario ?

Effectivement les membres activistes du Linux Belgian Team furent contactes peut
apresla derniere LinuxCopyParty, par M$

Celui-ci nous propose a chacun d'entre nous plusieur type de contract :
    Continuer nos activites, mais dans le cadre du nouveau projet M$, auquel cas
nous devenons
    des salariers M$ a titre complementaire.
    Devenir un employer M$ plein temps, charge de la promotion et du support du
nouvel OS
    Cesser toutes activites publiques ou privees autour de linux, pendant 3 ans.

Nous avons jusqu'au 14 octobre pour donner une reponce.
Il est prevu que le 13 nous fassions part de notre choix sur
la mailing liste.

>
>
> Bien à vous,
>
> Dany
>
> ----------  Message réacheminé  ----------
> Subject: MICROSOFT ACQUIRES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM FOR $18 BILLION
> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 04:00:05 -0400
> From: "Rousseaux, David" <David.Rousseaux@WL.com>
>
> > MICROSOFT ACQUIRES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM FOR $18 BILLION
> >
> > QWERTYUIOP, WA /DenounceNewswire/ -- August 21, 1998 -- Within hours
> > of IBM's announcement
> >            of its $5.7 billion acquisition of the Apache web server,
> > the most popular server for World Wide Web
> >            sites, Microsoft today announced that it is acquiring
> > Linux, the free operating system originally
> >            developed by Linus Torvalds and a motley group of worldwide
> > programmers, for $18 billion.
> >
> >            Mr. Torvalds, who recently joined a startup called
> > Transmeta Corporation in Santa Clara, CA, will
> >            personally receive $8 billion in cash and Microsoft stock,
> > instantly making him one of the richest people
> >            in Santa Clara. The rest of the money will be divvied up
> > among the many contributors to Linux, as well
> >            as 17 commercial companies which market Linux including
> > Caldera, Debian, DLX, Red Hat Software,
> >            Slackware, Stampede, S.u.S.E, and Yggdrasil Computing. All
> > of the employees, officers, and directors
> >            of these companies will immediately become Microsoft
> > employees.
> >
> >            Transmeta, which is partly funded by the billionaire (and
> > Microsoft co-founder) Paul Allen, will continue
> >            employing Mr. Torvalds, although, both parties agree it's
> > kind of silly, now that he's going to be so rich.
> >
> >            Asked why he was willing to pay so much money for the
> > operating system, Bill Gates, chairman of
> >            Microsoft, said, "It isn't a lot of money at all. It's
> > nothing." Asked again, he said, "You heard what I said,
> >            now stop bothering me." Asked once more, he replied, "Ok
> > look, sure we're shelling out $18 billion, but
> >            think about it: every person who is currently using, or who
> > has ever used, the Linux operating system
> >            will immediately need to pay Microsoft $1,995.00, annually.
> > Consider that there are over 10 million
> >            installations of Linux worldwide. Do the math. We'll
> > collect almost $20 billion in the first year alone."
> >
> >            The Linux acquisition could pose a problem for IBM, which
> > recently shelled out billions for the Apache
> >            web server. Apache runs most commonly on Linux machines.
> > Now, Apache will be running on a
> >            Microsoft operating system. "It's like a high-stakes game
> > of chess," said Indu Strypundit, an industry
> >            pundit. "And like usual, we computer users are the pawns."
> ---------
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--

        Spineux Alain

Romani ite domus.
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