Saturday, January 10, 2004
Lindows Takes a Hit in Battle Against Microsoft
Lindows Takes a Hit in Battle Against Microsoft: "January 9, 2004
Lindows Takes a Hit in Battle Against Microsoft
By Susan Kuchinskas
A San Francisco Court has ruled that a Linux company has to stop its scheme to provide instant Microsoft rebates as part of its $1.1 billion settlement with California.
San Diego, Calif.-based Lindows set up a special site, MSfreePC.com, that let them automatically qualify and apply for rebates offered to settle state consumers'four-year-old class action suit on July 19, 2003. Consumers could use an 'Instant Settlement Wizard,' and if they qualified, immediately use the pending rebate to instantly purchase a Windows-compatible Office suite, LindowsCD, Lindows OS 4.0 or a library of Linux software. Lindows contributed 10 percent of each rebate to open source projects such as Mozilla and OpenOffice.
Then San Francisco Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado's ruled on December 22 that claims against Microsoft collected by Lindows.com are not valid."
Too bad. I know that the people who used their site to file will be a little annoyed, but really, it was always an open question as to whether the court would allow the electronic filing.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, it doesn't do anything to devalue Lindows as an OS or stop the creeping flood of Linux. Every time I read something from Microsoft's marketing people, I get the distinct image of a lone outpost in an old Western movie, surrounded by about a million Indians. And most of them armed with M-16's. I guess when you can feel the victory (of being the only OS on the planet) slipping away, you tend to spend a lot of nervous nights.
Lindows Takes a Hit in Battle Against Microsoft
By Susan Kuchinskas
A San Francisco Court has ruled that a Linux company has to stop its scheme to provide instant Microsoft rebates as part of its $1.1 billion settlement with California.
San Diego, Calif.-based Lindows set up a special site, MSfreePC.com, that let them automatically qualify and apply for rebates offered to settle state consumers'four-year-old class action suit on July 19, 2003. Consumers could use an 'Instant Settlement Wizard,' and if they qualified, immediately use the pending rebate to instantly purchase a Windows-compatible Office suite, LindowsCD, Lindows OS 4.0 or a library of Linux software. Lindows contributed 10 percent of each rebate to open source projects such as Mozilla and OpenOffice.
Then San Francisco Superior Court Judge Paul Alvarado's ruled on December 22 that claims against Microsoft collected by Lindows.com are not valid."
Too bad. I know that the people who used their site to file will be a little annoyed, but really, it was always an open question as to whether the court would allow the electronic filing.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, it doesn't do anything to devalue Lindows as an OS or stop the creeping flood of Linux. Every time I read something from Microsoft's marketing people, I get the distinct image of a lone outpost in an old Western movie, surrounded by about a million Indians. And most of them armed with M-16's. I guess when you can feel the victory (of being the only OS on the planet) slipping away, you tend to spend a lot of nervous nights.
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