Re: [OT] Re: Troll Tech [was Re: Sco vs. IBM]

[Werner Almesberger <wa@almesberger.net>]

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

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  _________________________________________________________________________
 / Werner Almesberger, Buenos Aires, Argentina         wa@almesberger.net /
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