The Register: Open Source Terror Stalks Microsoft Lawyers

[ Thanks to Doug Bostrom for this link. ]

Starting off from last week's news that Microsoft's EULA for at least some of its SDK's forbids use of "potentially viral" software in conjunction with development under them, this article says Microsoft might be trying to hide something about the power it confers its developers, including an unlikely "WinXP forced open" scenario. Didja know the GPL was designed to "eat your business?"

"If someone within Microsoft or contracted to Microsoft could be legally deemed to have the authority to accept the provisions of the GPL while incorporating GPL code into Microsoft software, then Microsoft would be bound by the GPL. Some punk could force them to GPL WinXP. It's even conceivable (well, if you think lawyer hard enough) that some of the many open source sympathising grunts in Redmond could plant the code deliberately. And you thought we were joking last week (Commie cell in MS secretly pushing GPL to customers).

That's what they see as viral about it. You commit to it, or somebody commits to it on your behalf, and it starts eating your business. That is of course what it's designed to do, and from the GPL perspective this is A Good Thing. From Microsoft's, it's death, but from the GPL perspective that is possibly An Even Better Thing. This is war, and nobody ever said it wasn't."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Microsoft SDK license disallows the use of "viral software"(Jun 20, 2001)