Linux Online - Microsoft Alms for Needy Linux Efforts

Microsoft Alms for Needy Linux Efforts


Publication:	LinuxWorld	Date:	Nov 03 2003

Microsoft gadfly Michael Robertson, the CEO of Lindows.com and the guy who greeted the letter from Microsoft lawyers telling him to take down his MSfreePC Web site with a raised middle finger, now says that 10% of each claim against Microsoft's $1.1 billion settlement with California over the price of Windows that the site processes will go to a needy Linux company that the claimant picks from a Lindows-supplied list.

The offer is for "a limited time" only - exactly how long is unclear and includes such possibilities as poor old Mozilla, the more buoyant OpenOffice.org, Gnome, KDE or Debian.

Robertson is out to see that as much of that alleged $1.1 billion in vouchers is siphoned out of Microsoft's bank account as he can and that a lot of it turns up at his bank.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has labeled the scheme "fraudulent" and claims that it will result in bogus claims that the settlement claims administrator denies because Lindows is ignoring the rules established like producing receipts.