Re: Conflict of interest in Debian
On 10/15/2014 12:39 PM, Steve Litt wrote:
We've actually been in this place before. Wonderful Linux company
Caldera became SCO (oversimplification, but you know what I mean).
Wonderful Linux company Corel changed their CEO, and promptly accepted
money from Microsoft and dropped all their Windows software.
If you knew Caldera, then you would know that it started with
capitalization and focus by the retired CEO of Novell, Ray Noorda. What
he did was to try to shoehorn Linux into the proprietary world, in order
for Linux to become more widely acceptable as the base OS. I installed
the base version around 1995 when there was a promo cost of slightly
less than $200. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera_OpenLinux
It went into the deep end when Ray suffered from Alzheimer's and stepped
down.
The best thing I can say about Ray is this quote from wikipedia:
"Under Noorda's watch, Novell acquired several companies and products
with the goal of countering Microsoft's rapid spread into new markets,
including Digital Research, Unix System Laboratories, WordPerfect, and
Borland's Quattro Pro. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates claimed that Noorda had
a "tremendous vendetta" against Microsoft and that Noorda had supported
the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust investigations of Microsoft in
the early 1990s that led to a consent decree restricting its operating
system licensing practice."
Now that is my kinda guy, as he knew that Linux would grow to be more
than a desktop hobby toy. And, he put his own money where his mouth was.
He was not responsible for what happened after. I still have a copy of
the Caldera install CD and it worked like a charm on an aging ThinkPad.
But it was too pitiful to watch Netscape try to update itself. :) Ric
--
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256
Reply to: