Microsoft prohibits GPLed work via licensing of CIFS standards

[Martin Keegan]

On Sun, 7 Apr 2002, Luciano Miguel Ferreira Rocha wrote:

> > Surely Samba is normally used during migration.
> I don't think so. Some substitute win32 servers for free unix servers, but
> remain with win32 clients because of the "habituation" caused by Word and
> a dumb GUI. Some even use free unix servers without the knowledge of the

I must stress that it's not just habituation, it's network lock-in. Not
only is there an installed base of people who grok Windows (and therefore
a large, distributed cost in switching over to GNU/Linux or any other
system), there is the problem that people use Windows because it
interoperates with what they think is going to be the most widely-used
system (namely Windows). It's entirely rational for people to behave this
way.

Either you have to interoperate perfectly with Windows (nigh-on impossible
as Microsoft keeps changing the specifications), or you have to change the
perception that it's going to be the dominant system in the future.

Mk