The Register: MS-Funded Think Tank Propagates Open-Source Lies

“A Washington think tank called the Alexis de Tocqueville
Institution has released its anticipated study of the dangers of
open-source software. Much to our disappointment, the
organization’s press release, which last week promised that the
study would explain in gory detail how open-source software will
foster international terrorism, turns out to have been a tissue of
headline-pimping lies.

“Indeed, the paper never mentions terrorism at all. Instead, it
overflows with the usual half-truth drivel about the economic
dangers of the GPL which one can find re-hashed daily on the
Microsoft ‘Press Pass’ PR site and the editorial pages of ZD-Net
News. More than half the paper is an enumeration of the Crimes
against Commerce of Richard Stallman.

“As for system security, the paper allows that having the source
code to a well-secured OS or application is little help to an
attacker, just as knowing the layout of Fort Knox isn’t going to
help you sneak in and empty the joint. But it tries to persuade us
that not having the source code means we’re all safe from
hackers…”

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