From our latest Opinion/Editorial web pages.
I
ncredible as it may seem, Microsofts leading executive
Steve Ballmer is warning nations about the potential for patent lawsuits if
they use Linux. Although he is smart
enough to state the warning in terms of advice, neither Asian leaders nor the
world are taking this as anything less than a threat.
Were not talking about a statement
made to some fortune 500 business leaders.
Were not applying this to global companies based
in other countries. Ballmer
is speaking to nations, in the context of global authority.
The U.S.
software industry as a whole is sinking deaper and deaper in a quagmire as major software initiatives move to
Asian nations including India
and Singapore
among others. Not only are software
industry jobs in the U.S.
threatened by this major paradigm shift, the U.S.
ability to remain competitive is also being negatively affected.
It is in my opinion that maybe Microsofts aggressive posturing
now towards national governments, of all places, is not only alienating the U.S.
industry as a whole, but doing so with such vigor that
the results will be permanent.
Ive been watching over the past
twelve months major software endeavors shift from the U.S.
to other countries. In turn, the results
of these endeavors in terms of products, patents, and sales are shifting out of
the U.S. Some people have started to wonder how making veiled threats towards other
nations can improve anything at all regarding the U.S.
software industry or even revenue for Microsoft?
More and more nations are viewing the U.S.
and Microsoft as one unit. One face. The lack of
governmental intervention and the extensive posturing of this corporation are
deeply influencing leaders of other nations.
The result?
Perhaps it may be: Isolation, alienation, and further decline of our
industry as a whole.
Walter V. Koenning Jr. is a freelance writer and contributes his voice to the technology industry on global technology issues.
This brief opinion piece should not be construed as factual information, and only contains the opinions of the author at the time of publication. Reallylinux.com could not find information in this article that at the time of publication was inaccurate. However, the opinions posted do not express the opinions of Reallylinux.com and are not endorsed in any way. The Op/Ed web pages on this site are only for perspective and allow members of the general public to express their views from time to time. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation both in the United States and Internationally. SCO is a registered trademark of The SCO Group Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks or registered trademarks in this opinion piece belong to their respective owners. The term "America" is applied interchangeably in this opinion piece to represent the terms "United States."
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