Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S266102AbTFWTDY (ORCPT ); Mon, 23 Jun 2003 15:03:24 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S266109AbTFWTDY (ORCPT ); Mon, 23 Jun 2003 15:03:24 -0400 Received: from almesberger.net ([63.105.73.239]:18451 "EHLO host.almesberger.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S266102AbTFWTDX (ORCPT ); Mon, 23 Jun 2003 15:03:23 -0400 Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 16:16:39 -0300 From: Werner Almesberger To: Larry McVoy , Stephan von Krawczynski , Larry McVoy , coyote@coyotegulch.com, dwmw2@infradead.org, jgarzik@pobox.com, lawrence@the-penguin.otak.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Troll Tech [was Re: Sco vs. IBM] Message-ID: <20030623161639.C1418@almesberger.net> References: <20030620001217.G6248@almesberger.net> <20030620120910.3f2cb001.skraw@ithnet.com> <20030620142436.GB14404@work.bitmover.com> <20030620143012.GC14404@work.bitmover.com> <20030620163349.GG17563@work.bitmover.com> <20030623150616.GA20103@work.bitmover.com> <20030623174317.0d937ee4.skraw@ithnet.com> <20030623155956.GD20103@work.bitmover.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20030623155956.GD20103@work.bitmover.com>; from lm@bitmover.com on Mon, Jun 23, 2003 at 08:59:56AM -0700 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1475 Lines: 33 Larry McVoy wrote: > Red Hat: $1B market cap (not bad), $25M/quarter revenues, running at a loss. > Microsoft: $275B market cap, $7.8B/quarter revenues, running at $2.7B/quarter > profit. Here's an idea: most Linux users occasionally buy a product that includes a bundled Microsoft product (e.g. a notebook with Windows preinstalled.) This is often referred to as the "Microsoft tax". So, why not make MS act as our tax collector ? If we assume that there are about 10 millions of Linux users worldwide, each spending USD 100 "MS tax" every decade, this makes USD 100 millions per year. With this, one could quite comfortably pay a thousand Linux developers working on the base OS (kernel, system programs, window system, etc.). So all you need to do is to lobby your government into passing some law that forces companies to re-distribute revenue gained by bundling products not used by the (de facto captive) customer. (Give it a catchy name, like "Fair Compensation Bill", or such.) - Werner -- _________________________________________________________________________ / Werner Almesberger, Buenos Aires, Argentina wa@almesberger.net / /_http://www.almesberger.net/____________________________________________/ - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/