Hmm

I do think M$'s response was typically petty. It's almost like they have specialised automatons programmed to react with entangling and confusing statements that don't make any clear sense when confronted by any kind of potential political company retribution from others who have traditionally had clearer and more outspoken PR appearances. It's the same with any M$ function - take issue with something, they at once try to prove how wrong you are, even when it's bloody clear they are. It's everywhere M$ puts its nose in, including standards processes. I daresay M$'s OSI-approved license will do exactly the same. The very fact that Bill responded by pointing out how the OSI is more about certification and less about the spirit of the embodying licenses and open source development advocation is proof of that.

In case you were wondering, I do believe M$ is the bigger threat - this move sounds much like the divide-and-conquer trickery of old and less about a new M$. M$ want you to think they're improving, but watch out for the image to be shattered by an impending lawsuit or three ... That company is the spawning ground of marketting and lawyers. It only really remains to discover exactly how M$ employees are trained to think as they do: "It's never, ever, ever our fault." Having said all that, I'm not against forgiving and forgetting if they would just show us how sincere they are about OSS, open standards, and all that. If they would just make us feel sure they won't employ their crack team of lawyers to tear us all limb from limb. If they would use their dominance to open competition, not to keep it securely fastened to their breasts. They haven't yet, of course, though every now and then (while we're being told to ignore the size of the company and the conflicting statements made by its management) we get to see M$ do something genuinely nice. Nice for business, of course, but nice for everyone else too (mostly stuff from research and tools given away to particular kinds of users). It isn't often that M$ does something nice without some sinister, profit-making motive. Google has more visible signs of being nice, but as others mention it's most often than not a tip in the jar and investor bate for most purposes with not a single let-up on a company advantage. Google want your code, do you hear? They want your faster kernels, your more secure libraries, your feature-packed graphics renderers ... Until then, though, M$ are undoubtedly the bigger threat; Google is something you can really get away from if you want, while M$'s formats and OSs aren't. Of course, Google give back to the OSS community, but abusing the quantities they do makes it hard to justify their bitching any more than Microsoft. Doesn't mean I'm not in line for the popcorn though ...

Meanwhile, I think Google is every bit as likely to go down the path of sin, and advise everyone here to keep away from the individualising services they offer. Use Scroogle. Find or set up another email account whose service policy is actually acceptable. Open standards can never be excused for by cookies that expire in the next century and huge gobs of unneeded data being kept around for no good reason. You know it makes sense. Google *does not* need to know more about you. They certainly don't need to capitalise on your every click.

Cheers,

Sabahattin