Ballmer: “Linux is a cancer”
Summary
On 1 June 2001 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux, in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. What Ballmer meant was the GPL, which according to the Microsoft CEO opens up any software that uses open source. The Register took the statement apart the following day as a deliberate distortion of the licence.
What Ballmer meant and what the GPL says
Ballmer claimed that anyone using any open source software would have to disclose the rest of their software too. The GPL, however, only requires this for works that as a whole build on GPL code, not for independent programs running alongside. The Register quoted the relevant passage of the licence and conceded that it was clumsily worded but by no means supported Ballmer’s reading.
In the same interview Ballmer warned against putting public money into open source and promoted Microsoft’s new product activation and licensing models. The Register read this as preparation for a software rental model.
Ideas
- Fear of licences is an effective weapon against competitors.
- The GPL concerns derived works, not everything on the same computer.
- Licence texts should be read instead of relying on summaries.
- Statements by competitors about licences are no legal advice.
Insights
- The quote stands for a phase in which Microsoft fought Linux as a threat; from 2014 the company changed course, joined the Linux Foundation in 2016 and today ships Linux itself, for example in the Windows Subsystem for Linux.
- When software counts as a derived work still occupies lawyers today; the uncertainty was the real lever of the campaign.
Facts
- The Chicago Sun-Times interview appeared on 1 June 2001, The Register’s article on 2 June 2001.
- Ballmer’s sentence was: “Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.”
- Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation in November 2016.
References
Remarks
- The Register article is a sharp-tongued commentary, not a neutral report.
Recommendations
- If unsure about the GPL, read the Free Software Foundation’s FAQ before integrating code.
- In companies, set clear rules about which licences are allowed in which products.
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