Washington Post: Ximian's Volunteer Army Fights Microsoft on Open-Source Code

[ Thanks to Doug Bostrom for this link. ]

"Microsoft Corp. has 40,000 employees, $30 billion in the bank and a lock on the personal computer market. Miguel de Icaza has a couple of hundred volunteer programmers, a windowless office just outside of downtown here and a vision.

His goal is to rewrite the rules of the software business by creating and giving away word processors, spreadsheets, email readers and other programs that mimic the look and feel of Microsoft's signature products. Some independent observers give him a fair shot. And so does Microsoft.

This summer, the software titan began a series of attacks against a free-software movement that supports projects such as de Icaza's. It's "a cancer," Microsoft officials said. "An intellectual-property destroyer." Almost un-American."

Complete Story

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