“I spent December seventh, eighth, and ninth in Seattle as
Microsoft’s guest. Microsoft flew me there from Florida at its
expense, put me up in a nice hotel, provided decent food, and
comped me and four other invitees to this ‘special conference’ with
presentations about the marvels of Vista and other recent or
upcoming Microsoft products. They didn’t quite play the old Beatles
song ‘Love Me Do’ in the background, but it was the event’s
unstated theme. And, as a free bonus, Microsoft gave me a free Zune
to pass on to a developer who wants to put Linux on it or make a
utility that will allow it to interact with a PC running Linux.“I went to work before the appetizers were served at the opening
supper by asking event organizer Nick White (whose business card
describes him as ‘Product Manager, Windows Marketing
Communications’) why I should trust a company whose CEO
consistently threatens to sue me and other Linux users over
unspecified patent violations…”