In other words, the GPL -- a software license mandating that a program's underlying source code be made publicly accessible -- cuts into Microsoft's profit margins.

Would Stallman want it any other way? Of course not. Stallman's goal has long been to provide software developers and users with an alternative to proprietarily developed software. His motivation is primarily moral -- he believes it is ethically wrong not to share. If nothing else, Microsoft's decision to make free software and the GPL a target for sustained criticism is clear proof that he -- along with the thousands of other developers who have, for their own reasons, contributed to the free-software movement -- has succeeded in making that alternative a reality.

But at what cost? The Microsoft party line is that the spread of free software will hamper the ability of commercial software companies to pay for their development costs. This in turn will decrease the amount of innovation in the software industry, and thus undermine overall economic growth.

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Of particular worry to Microsoft, Mundie indicated in an interview with New York Times reporter John Markoff on Thursday, is the threat to Microsoft's overseas growth. According to Mundie, a dozen or so nations have open-source initiatives. The idea that foreign governments might see a strategic advantage in not having their technological infrastructure dependent on a U.S. corporation is, apparently, quite daunting to Bill Gates and Co.

Let's stipulate, for the time being, that Microsoft is correct -- that the spread of free software will cut profits in the commercial software industry. This is not the most shocking accusation ever made; some prominent free-software programmers believe it to be a natural, and even desirable, consequence of the software industry's becoming more efficient. And let's even go so far as to agree with Mundie about the GPL. The GPL's requirement that developers who would like to use code protected by the GPL in their own applications must then make the entirety of those applications also protected by the GPL is a pretty sneaky trick, with incalculable long-term consequences.

One can even find potential support for Microsoft's case in the current disarray in the commercial open-source marketplace. Bankruptcies, layoffs and class action suits are rampant. Highflying start-ups like Eazel and Linuxcare are struggling to survive. Even relative giants like VA Linux are tightening belts and constantly revising earnings estimates downward. Reading newsgroups, mailing lists and bulletin boards, one senses a certain dissatisfaction, if not malaise: The glory days of free-software hype are over, and economic realities are coming home to roost.

But wait a minute. Since when did economic reality have anything to do with free software? It's always worth remembering that individual free-software developers originally decided to give away their code for reasons that were not commercial in nature. Such reasons included reputation within the community of programmers, altruism, just doing it for the heck of it and, to be sure, distrust of and distaste for Microsoft.

Now imagine how those developers will feel when they read in the New York Times Mundie's characterization of some proponents of free software as "unsophisticated." Or in other words, not very smart.

Microsoft, of course, knows best. But it's hard to imagine how Microsoft could more effectively have spurred on the dedication of free-software developers to continue to devote themselves to their cause. By attacking the GPL -- and by suggesting, as Jim Allchin, another Microsoft V.P., did two months ago, that free-software developers are somehow "un-American," Microsoft is actually fueling the emotional wellsprings of free-software development passion, as well as raising the public profile of free software at a time when hype is at a historic low.

A more sensible strategy would have been for Microsoft to shut up and concentrate on making attractive products. Instead, the company seems intent on whipping up its opponents into a berserker-like frenzy.

The Free Software Project
Read Andrew Leonard's book-in-progress on Linux and open source -- and post your comments.