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Unless perhaps when compared to some kind of disease. Looks like even Ballmer himself did a 180 on the whole "Linux is a cancer" thing (thinks he was still "rig

Unless perhaps when compared to some kind of disease. Looks like even Ballmer himself did a 180 on the whole "Linux is a cancer" thing (thinks he was still "right" at the time becaus ethe stance made them money): https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-ballmer-linux-idUSKCN0WC2RA https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-ballmer-linux-i...

mehrdadn 6y ago
It's not the prettiest word, but just saying he called it cancer leaves out important context. He wasn't trying to bash Linux itself so much as (his interpretation of) its GPL license. If its license had been different (say, MIT or BSD) I don't think he would've described it like that. https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/ https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_ca...
- Legogris 6y ago
  Oh absolutely he was more targeting FOSS software in general than Linux specifically.
- nix23 6y ago
  True, but on the other hand, did Microsoft any MIT/BSD Software at that time? I think it was especially against the GPL, but against a complete different Business model too.
  - mehrdadn 6y ago
    No, but I didn't claim they would've actively embraced MIT/BSD either.
  - sgift 6y ago
    Afair the first IP stack of either Windows 95 oder Windows 98 was the one from FreeBSD(?). They rewrote it later, but there was an acknowledgement in the docs for a while. So, they at least used it when needed. (My memory may be fuzzy, it's been a long time after all ..)
    - johannes1234321 6y ago
      Yes, the IP stack was derived from BSD as well as Internet Explorer was derived from NCSA Mosaic however they didn't publish those things under open licenses. (Which isn't required by BSD etc.)
  - nineteen999 6y ago
    > Did Microsoft any MIT/BSD Software at that time? Many of the TCP/IP utilities (telnet, nslookup etc) in earlier versions of Windows were based on BSD code.
    - nix23 6y ago
      I did not say they where allergic against free code/work, i said they where allergic against a complete different Business where you sell just the service and not the code. EDIT: And i wrote "the made no mit/bsd code" but adapting it...just like Apple

mehrdadn 6y ago

It's not the prettiest word, but just saying he called it cancer leaves out important context. He wasn't trying to bash Linux itself so much as (his interpretation of) its GPL license. If its license had been different (say, MIT or BSD) I don't think he would've described it like that. https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/ https://www.theregister.com/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_ca...

Legogris 6y ago
Oh absolutely he was more targeting FOSS software in general than Linux specifically.
nix23 6y ago
True, but on the other hand, did Microsoft any MIT/BSD Software at that time? I think it was especially against the GPL, but against a complete different Business model too.
- mehrdadn 6y ago
  No, but I didn't claim they would've actively embraced MIT/BSD either.
- sgift 6y ago
  Afair the first IP stack of either Windows 95 oder Windows 98 was the one from FreeBSD(?). They rewrote it later, but there was an acknowledgement in the docs for a while. So, they at least used it when needed. (My memory may be fuzzy, it's been a long time after all ..)
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    Yes, the IP stack was derived from BSD as well as Internet Explorer was derived from NCSA Mosaic however they didn't publish those things under open licenses. (Which isn't required by BSD etc.)
- nineteen999 6y ago
  > Did Microsoft any MIT/BSD Software at that time? Many of the TCP/IP utilities (telnet, nslookup etc) in earlier versions of Windows were based on BSD code.
  - nix23 6y ago
    I did not say they where allergic against free code/work, i said they where allergic against a complete different Business where you sell just the service and not the code. EDIT: And i wrote "the made no mit/bsd code" but adapting it...just like Apple