On Linux and IP indemnification:
"In the Linux world, nobody stands behind patent claims," Ballmer said, noting that Microsoft could be forced to swallow a $550 million judgement if it loses its ongoing case with Eolas Technologies Inc., but that its customers would be protected.
"I'm not trying to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt," Ballmer said. "I just think people should go out and research this for themselves."
September 1, 2004
Interview, IDG News Service
Link to remarks:
Infoworld.com excerpt
"Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells it like it is"
Intelproplaw.com News
|
On the origins of Linux:
"Where's the technology innovation going to happen? Technology innovation has happened much more from commercial companies than open source.
"Open source has just been trying to do clones of commercial software. That's all Linux is: a clone of Unix."
Steve Ballmer
July 13, 2004
Toronto
Link to remarks:
http://hardware.silicon.com
|
On Linux accountability:
"There is nobody to turn to if you as a customer say, 'I need this.' You can't turn to IBM. They don't write the thing. It's not like IBM can support Linux the way they support the mainframe operating system. They don't write the code.... All they can say is, 'You can call us and ask us a question, but if you actually want something done we can't do it.' ...
"... Customers will never really know who stands behind this product. If the lead developer for this component chooses to do something else with his life, who will carry on the mantle for that? The fact that it will never be commercialized is assured by the GPL. The GPL licensing form does that, as opposed to the open-source license for FreeBSD, where you could say Sun took it and commercialized it and can say that they own it. Nobody can ever do that (with GPL)."
Steve Ballmer
April 25, 2003
(News interview)
Link to remarks:
Cnet News
|
Linux origins cont'd:
"Linux itself is a clone of an operating system that is 20-plus years old. That's what it is. That is what you can get today, a clone of a 20-year-old system. I'm not saying that it doesn't have some place for some customers, but that is not an innovative proposition."
Steve Ballmer
April 25, 2003
(News interview)
Link to remarks:
Cnet News
"It is a clone of an operating system. There has yet to be
any innovation, new features or new capabilities out of the Linux
platform. First they cloned Unix, and there are people working on
cloning some of our stuff. But it's just a cloning [operation]."
Steve Ballmer
October 14, 2002
(News interview)
Link to remarks:
Cnet News
|
The GPL and intellectual property:
"The way the license is written, if you use any open-source software, you have to make the rest of your software open source. If the government wants to put something in the public domain, it should. Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That's the way that the license works.
"
Steve Ballmer
June 2001
(Chicago Sun-Times interview)
Link to remarks:
Suntimes.com
Link to excerpt:
Linux.org
|
On the integrity of Linux:
In November, 1998, Ballmer referred to Linux as "Lie-nucks." Asked to confirm the pronunciation, he said: "There is no financial incentive to answering that question."
November 1998
(News interview)
Link to remarks:
Forbes.com
|
