Burningbird

I have pictures of flood waters–both the Missouri and Mississippi–as well as the death of a beloved building, but two pieces of news caught my eye this morning that I wanted to write on, first.

The St. Louis Today has a story on a man busted for cheating in a bass fishing competition. I'm not a fisherman myself, but I have known others who are and I know how serious fans of the sport can be. I also know how competitive the fisher folk can be, with chats over coffee about the fish that got away, as compared to the catch that could be brought in.

You can be forgiven a lot–cheating on your taxes or your spouse, your business partner, or even when paying for girl scout cookies. However, one thing you'll never be forgiven is cheating during a bass fishing competition:

Back before he was accused of cheating in the bass fishing tournament, before police caught him in an elaborate sting, Gary Lee Jones would drop by Buck's Outboard Motors shop almost every morning. He'd grab some coffee, sit down at the green picnic table with the other regulars, and talk fishing.

…

But his moment of triumph — his trophy plaque and $886 — was the one that got away. He left the winner's circle that day in handcuffs, facing a felony count of theft by deception. Fishermen at the boat ramp cheered his arrest. Others were moved to anger. Fishermen can forgive all kinds of transgressions, but not cheating.

Seems Mr. Jones tied two live fish to a line by a duck blind. When the fishermen dispersed at the start of the competition, he rowed out to where the fish were stashed, added the two to his day's totals, which gave him enough fish weight to earn a second place trophy. It's not that he wanted the money, or wasn't good enough to compete on his own; it was that he wanted the respect of the community so badly he felt he had to cheat in order to win it.

Now side forward to another big story today: Microsoft's decision to threaten and intimidate the open source community. Yup, the company is accusing open source efforts such as those behind Linux and OpenOffice with patent infringement; attempting to wheedle royalty patents out of corporate clients, larger companies delivering such, and small folks providing such services for little or no money but without actually having to file a lawsuit. What was it the company stated? That Linux violates over 200 patents? OpenOffice over 50? Of course the company doesn't say which patents: that would mean providing useful information, which is counter to strong-arm tactics and attempted extortion. I imagine it's for things such an operating system booting up when the machine is turned on, or hitting a Delete key deletes whatever is highlighted, or other unique 'software algorithms'.

Of course, we've known that the US patent system is outmoded and destructive to software, providing patents for the most ludicrous items. We also know that Microsoft files patents at the drop of a corporate hat. However, we never, or at least I never, thought that Microsoft would be so unsure of its own competitive position that it would resort to such tactics in order to intimidate corporate users, cause havoc in the open source community, as well as add to the already obscene profits the company makes.

I thought it interesting to read Tim Bray's posts from yesterday and today. Yesterday, regarding Adobe's Lightroom and the lack of need to open source the code for such, he wrote:

I guess the conclusion is obvious: for the foreseeable future, both models of software building and marketing are going to march along; neither is doomed.

I agree with Tim: there isn't anything wrong with having both proprietary and open source products. They do march hand in hand, and they both provide needed services. However, there's a difference between developing proprietary code and attempting to squash the entire open and free source movements. Today, in response to Microsoft's bullying, Tim simply wrote, Litigate or shut up.

What Microsoft has done today is develop a new way of business; I call it the Bass Fishing Competition business model. Rather than deliver products companies want to use and rather than working with the open source communities to ensure compatibility of product, support of standards, and openness of interface–which would leave Microsoft positioned to be a part of the open source community, even while delivering proprietary applications–it decided to 'salt' patents about, like fish pre-caught and strung on a line in a duck blind; ready to be hauled up and used against the competition whenever the company feels threatened. Instead of trusting to its own proven ability to fish with the best of them, it uses law rather than technology to compete. What does that say, then, about the technology?

Today the company has crossed the line, and has lost any respect the tech–open and proprietary–community can possibly have for it. Even the most devoted Microsofties must be hanging their head in shame.

Returning to Mr. Jones, the man caught cheating in a bass fishing competition, why he did so is a puzzle to the friends he used to hang out with every morning at Buck's Outboard Motor Shop:

No doubt, fishermen might fib about the size of their catches or about the one that got away. But Jones crossed a sacred line that day out on the lake. It doesn't make sense to them. He was already among friends at Buck's. He had it all, or so it seemed.

"That's the tragedy of the whole thing," Collins said.

Law leaned on the counter.

"I wish he'd come in one more time," he said, "so I could tell him — I wouldn't be hateful — but to tell him he let his friends down."

Why did Microsoft feel the need to publish such a global and disruptive threat? Poor reaction to Vista? Increased corporate interest in both Linux and OpenOffice? Firefox giving IE a run for its money? Intimidated by Google? Latent revenge for Monkey Boy? The company has no one to blame for any of this but itself. Even so, it is making record profits, it's doing well; it didn't have to make such a move that has destroyed any trust or respect in the tech community.

Like that bass fisherman caught cheating, by going for the prize at the cost of genuine competition, Microsoft has only hurt itself and, by association, those who support it. That's the tragedy of the whole thing: the company let its friends down.