Someone sent me a link to a website, and it’s either the most bizarre or brilliant idea I’ve ever found in a website.
Update: Before posting this, I doublechecked the link. Unfortunately, it’s one of those “bandwidth exceeded when more than three people visit” kind of site, but I did save a copy, which you can see here.
Some may say it’s an April Fools’ Day joke, and for all I really know, it is an April Fools’ Day joke, but sometimes jokes carry more truth than the most serious tome.
While the BEO people seem to be registered with the loony left, what is startingly original is their core concept, which can be summarized as “If you can’t beat them, buy them.”
In other words, if a bunch of people are really unhappy with a corporation because they think they’re evil, these folks say moaning and groaning about them is just a huge waste of time. The only thing that will solve the problem is . . . buying the company.
They specifically point out that if you want to stop MS from acting like MS, those who think that way ought to get together, buy the company, then put all of MS’s code under an open source license.
They concede that this would cost a lot of money, but they say that the real problem isn’t the cost, but that the people who whine and moan a lot won’t put their money where their mouths are, and they suspect the vast majority of people are just that: whiners.
Somehow, I suspect they’re right, and while I hardly agree with some of their tactics, I think they’ve put the finger on more than a few problems.
Realistic or not, it does provoke some interesting fantasies. The thought of Bill Gates getting cashed out, and having to use an open-sourced licensed Windows in any comeback attempt will give some people the giggles.
Or imagine an army of Intel-haters buying the company and then handing it over, free, to AMD.
I bet you could think of a few more. Maybe you ought to send them to me, and I could put the best ones up in a couple days.
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