Microsoft Attorneys Cause Lindows to Withdraw From 3 Countries
Microsoft Attorneys Cause Lindows to Withdraw From 3 Countries
Douglas Chick
Posted above the Lindows website is a notice that warns:
Important Notice! Pending
Lindows' appeal visitors from the Netherlands, Belgium,
and Luxembourg are not permitted to access the Lindows.com
website or purchase Lindows products.
In a letter from Michael Robinson, the CEO of Lindows, he writes:
"After the revelation last week that Microsoft seems to be playing a role in funneling cash to SCO to attack Linux, it should be obvious to even the most casual observer that Microsoft will do anything to try to halt Linux. This shouldn't surprise anyone, given Microsoft executives' prior conduct track record of breaking the law, and the many books chronicling their unethical behavior over the last two decades. Routinely, we see Microsoft intimidating companies that we interact with in the computer business who want to support desktop Linux. These partners and potential partners face Microsoft's threats to withhold technical support, to withdraw market development funds, to file lawsuits, and more."
He also says: "From there, Microsoft went to the Netherlands. Ironically, in the land where heroin and prostitution are legal, they found a jurisdiction to rule that simply viewing the Lindows.com website is forbidden and demanded that we block it. Microsoft knows there is no way to effectively block only residents of the Netherlands, short of shutting down our website to all visitors worldwide." Says Michael Robinson, CEO of LindowsOS.
I support Lindows in their right to compete in a fair market, and I am even currently testing the operating system at my workplace to see how I use it in place of a more expensive Windows desktop operating system. But I still wonder why Mr. Robinson has so stubbornly kept the Lindows name and given Microsoft the opening it needs against his company. Robinson had plenty of time to change the name as Microsoft launched their lawsuit two years ago, giving Lindows more than enough time to come up with another. Has it simply been nothing more than a matter of arrogant pride behind keeping the name Lindows, or a brilliant advertising ploy to keep their name in the headlines? Whatever the reasoning behind Lindows wanting to go against what has to be the larges law firm in the world, I hope it this doesn't set fear in the minds of anyone else thinking about developing an alternative desktop operating system.
