funded directly since 1999 by Microsoft, a company which publishes the competing proprietary operating system Microsoft Windows, and considered Linux one of its most important competitors at the time (see ). After a month of widespread rejection of the book in the technical press, Microsoft also repudiated it in mid-June, a spokesman calling it "an unhelpful distraction from what matters most—providing the best technology for our customers". Notably absent from Brown's research for Samizdat was any direct communication with Torvalds. See also Halloween documents Notes References Samizdat: And Other Issues Regarding the 'Source' of Open Source Code (The prerelease e-book) (PDF, 468KiB) Samizdat's critics ... Brown replies (Ken Brown, 4 June 2004) Criticism of the 2004 "Origins of Linux" report (PDF) (Julião Duartenn, Security Skill Center, Oblog Software SA) Some notes on the "Who wrote Linux" Kerfuffle (Andrew S. Tanenbaum, 20 May 2004) Source comparison of early linux and minix versions Ken Brown's Motivation (Andrew S. Tanenbaum, 21 May 2004) Reputation of the Dead (CommsWorld AU, 21 May 2004) Accusatory Report Deliberately Confuses (Interview with Richard Stallman, LinuxInsider, 30 May 2004) Samizdat — a Noble Word with a Touching History (Groklaw, 30 May 2004) Ken Brown Takes Off the Mask; and a Gilbert & Sullivan Parody (Groklaw, 4 June 2004) Critique of Ken Brown's response (Ta bù shì dà yú, Kuro5hin.org, 6 June 2004) Editor's Note: AdTI Fires Cheap Shot at ... Us (Brian Proffitt, Linux Today, 16 June 2004) ADTI: Open-Sourcers Skirt Copyrights (Lisa Stapleton, LinuxInsider, 16 June 2004) External links Two More — Swartz and Perens — Rebut Alexis de Tocqueville's Brown (Groklaw'', 12 June 2004) Books about Linux Books about free software