From:	"Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject:	Re: [OT] Euro question
Date:	Fri, 1 May 1998 09:48:26 -0400

Brett Borger wrote:
>> > (And don't anyone say it can't be done, because that is exactly
>> >what Linux is doing.) It's pretty hard to defeat it too...if a
>> >mega-corp is hard to hit because it's physical assets are spread,
>> >imagine trying to stamp out knowledge. It's a meme.
>>
>> Heh - not really. A non-mega OS wouldn't have a snowball's chance
>> in hell. Why? Linux gets to use the laws of the land against MS.
>> MS can't become a monopoly. MS can't send a squad of goons to hit
>> Linus. The megas can...
>
>Hmm, I need to practice speaking more...wherever my points keep
>going, they aren't making it to you :)
>
>Linux (save Caldera) doesn't use the laws of the land against anyone.
> It just exists. But is keeps surviving and improving.

Nothing just exists. Everything is related to every other thing,
somehow. Let me rephrase my statement. Linux is protected by the
laws of the land. If Microsoft weren't restricted by those laws,
Linux would be dead.

>> Anything MS sees as a threat, it can only defeat through publicity.
>> Something that a mega sees as a threat is likely to go Boom! in the
>> night.
>
>That was my point though...what's going to go Boom!? Every Linux
>user? Very Difficult. What else is there to go Boom!? The BBS's
>that information is traded on? You'll have to kill most of existing
>BBS's to get it to work. It's a meme: A concept that spreads like a
>virus, difficult to stamp out.

The megas would never let Linux get to the point where it is now.
They'd nip it in the bud - "Hey, I hear XX has developed a new OS
with some possibility of promise! If we can't have it, no one can."

Memes are beside the point - most people would never know about the
OS, and those that did wouldn't be able to do much. If they develop
in secret (very difficult, unless you're the only one working on it,
and you're not connected to the net), then it's no threat. If they
then release it simultaneously everywhere, Mega #1 ties things up
legally while Mega #2 writes virii to combat the OS directly, while
Mega #3 kills the author(s) to discourage further development.

James Ojaste