Wayne Stallwood ALUGlist@digimatic.co.uk [...]

I remain to be convinced that MS want to control content for it's own sake, at the heart they are still a software giant not a media one so their key interest is leveraging content delivery to make their software the most attractive option. [...]

One way to do that is to present yourself as the best friends of content delivery services - or broadcasters, in oldspeak. A good tactic would be to let one of your trusted leaders go work for them for a while, then appoint them back to high office in your organisation and let them give interviews saying things like

"There is a growing consensus something can be done. We have to protect IP for the health of our economy. We need implementable anti-piracy measures. We can do a lot more [than the Digital Britain report proposes] if there is a will to do it." -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/17/microsoft-ashley-highfield-inter...

wouldn't it?

The push for free and open source software is fast becoming about more than FOSS for the sake of freedom of computing. It's becoming a struggle between public and private benefit in access to everything from Department for the Environment presentations to BBC and ITV shows.

Where is this debate happening next?