Open Source Criminals ???
OK. In addition to my normal disclaimer, please read the following only if you accept that the opinions expressed here are solely my one and may not be shared by my employer or my co-workers.
I often read the musings over at Slashdot. Not because I think there is anything of real strategic value to be found there anymore (not like their earlier days) but simply for comic value. The forums are regularly rife with ramblings of conspiracy theories, all of which purport to be driven by Microsoft. The only valid “Microsoft Conspiracy” that I’ve ever been aware of is the one where we strive to deliver maximum value to our shareholders and customers.
But if you want to talk about conspiracy theories, let’s look at some interesting circumstantial evidence against some fraction of the open source community.
Earlier this year the MyDoom.B virus (more here) was running around the internet. United States Federal Law defines this activity as criminal.
Now you don’t have to be a genius to guess that many of the hack attacks focused on Microsoft.com and Microsoft technology originate in the radical “non-commercial” competitive community.
Recently, The SCO Group began legal actions concerning Linux and SCO’s contention that Linux distributions encroach on SCO’s intellectual property rights.
Needless to say, the Linux/GPL community is very unhappy about this. They seem to feel that the value of intellectual property should not be owned or protected at all.
Now here’s the suspicious part, when Doom.B started attacking Microsoft.com in February, it also attacked SCO.com. According to eWeek magazine’s “The Buzz” (2-9-04) “Microsoft’s main web site showed no ill effects”, but MyDoom (A & B) attacks “completely crippled” SCO.com
Mmmmmmm, a criminal developer or developers that started out attacking Microsoft suddenly decide to include SCO in their criminal activities. Who might Microsoft and SCO have as a common detractor. (Especially early this year.)
I could guess where to look, and I wish I knew who the culprits are. I could use the money.
Think of how bad it might be if they had SOURCE code for Windows & SCO Unix on which to base their crimes. J
Do you think this was just a coincidence ???
Joe
PS: I’ve disabled comments for this post. Thanks to all who participated in an intelligent discussion. Unfortunately a couple of folks did as I expected and dropped by to offer personal insults and name calling.
My interest in the dichotomy of the targeted MyDoom victims seemed less interesting to my feedbackers that an opportunity to hammer SCO (and me J )
This post was simply predicated on the “coincidence” highlighted in eWeek magazine.
For the record, I love competition (personal and professional) and I use some open source software. I’m NOT anti-OSS, but I not a fan of the GPL.
I’m not defending SCO or making a legal judgment about their lawsuit. What I am doing is suggesting that there are hacking criminals out there whose affiliation can be defined to include a dislike for anything that competes with Linux (and I’m not endorsing competition by litigation, though some folks seem fine with that model when it is to their advantage.)
Malicious hackers are not just costing Microsoft. They are costing everyone who uses a computer. SCO’s lawsuit is one issue – hacker’s criminal activities are another