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- For immediate release
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-
- Redmond, Wash., Jan. 7th, 2007 -- Linux under scrutiny from the US DoJ
-
- The United States Department of Justice (US DoJ) has recently announced
- its intention to carry out an inquiry regarding the monopoly of Linux
- (NASDAQ: LNUX) and Linux-like systems on the market of computer
- operating systems. According to several analysts who expressed their
- wish to remain anonymous, Linux has become a de-facto standard by
- allegedly using illegal commerce practices:
-
- - free availability of the Linux system and of its derivatives
- (AIX, Solaris, DG-UX, BSD/OS, ...)
- - under-the-table price agreements ("free")
- - use of unpaid volunteers
-
- Usage of the Internet to promote this dominance is highly suspected,
- and could be considered as added prosecution material.
-
- This inquiry was initiated following a class-action lawsuit from
- several small software editors (Microsoft, Oracle, Netscape, IBM) --
- these companies believe their business activities are compromised by
- these illegal practices. Most of the above-mentioned plaintiffs have
- regrouped under the banner "Windows NT10.0" to offer "...solutions
- of superior quality, reliability and performance." On a side note,
- Windows NT (WNT) now ships with its complete sources in human-readable
- form, which is not the case with recent versions of Linux. Invented
- by Microsoft, this is now a proven way to develop quality software.
- Endorsement of this concept by Microsoft is stronger than ever, as
- shown by their now ubiquitous sticker "100% Pure Sources Inside" (TM).
-
- --
- [Written by Pierre Beyssac <pb@hsc.fr>, translated by Pierre and Philippe Regnauld <regnauld@EU.org>.]
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