MS Sponsored FUD: Linus Not Inventor of Linux

Submitted by cel4145 on May 24, 2004 - 13:23.

LinuxWorld and CNET both report that according to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute, Linus Torvalds is not the father of Linux. The Tocqueville report (which I have not seen, but so the various discussions are stating) claims that Linux is largely based on Minix and contains code stolen from Unix. Andrew Tannenbaum, the creator of Minix, has already refuted the charge that Linux code is drawn from Minix.

Anyway, this report is as silly as the Tocqueville Institute's previous claim that open source is destroying the IT industry, as well as Linus's response to the above that the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are the real inventors of Linux (good response to this kind of garbage :).

Why is this Microsoft FUD? Wired has already confirmed that Microsoft provides funding to the Alexis de Tocqueville Institute. Interested in the history of FUD and its tactics? Read Pfaffenberger, Bryan. 2000. "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD): The Rhetoric of Dread in Information Technology Marketing."

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Not that anyone here needs convincing

Submitted by wordmunger on May 24, 2004 - 15:10.

Not that anyone here needs convincing, but the idea that OSS destroys companies that rely on IP laws is ridiculous. If your entire business model relies on the vain hope that no competitors ("free" or otherwise) will arise, you are doomed to fail from the start.

--Dave

platypus matt's picture

OSS and IP Laws

Submitted by platypus matt on May 24, 2004 - 16:53.

How long until we get a McCarthy scare about Open Source developers? I can sense it coming...Guess the communists won't work so well anymore, so we'll have to claim that open source developers are terrorists.

cel4145's picture

what do you mean how long?

Submitted by cel4145 on May 24, 2004 - 20:26.

apparently that was the tone at the DMCRA hearings, which is about fair use and IP rights in relation to the DMCA:

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Communist Party. I pledge allegiance to copyright, and to the intellectual property system for which it stands, one compensation, responsible, with property and profit for all."

That is, one deep issue is the conflict between the controls sought by the industry, and the effects those controls have in terms of inhibiting fair use in practice. This is a complicated problem. And it's a waste of time to go around "Are you some sort of Commie?" (paraphrased, not literal) all the time.

cel4145's picture

no competitors

Submitted by cel4145 on May 24, 2004 - 20:30.

or at least, you have to worry if your business model rests on no competitors that you can't buy ;)