Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Novell-Microsoft: What They Aren't Telling You
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Today Novell and Microsoft announced a partnership in which Microsoft
> | has made some unlikely-seeming promises regarding Linux. What aren't |
> they telling you? First, you can be sure that Microsoft's not out to |
> help a competitor. This announcement paves the way for Microsoft to |
> implement significant control over commercial customer's use of Free |
> Software. And it has significant negative implications for Open Source |
> in general.
> |
> | There are two significant announcements. First, that Novell and |
> Microsoft are entering into a patent cross-license, and second, that |
> Microsoft is promising not to assert its patents against individual |
> non-commercial developers. The bad part is that this sets Mirosoft up to
> | assert its patents against all commercial Open Source users. There are
> | also some little bonuses for Microsoft, like Novell will help
> Microsoft | turn back the Open Document Format and substitute something
> Microsoft | controls.
> |
> | [...]
> |
> | SCO's case is foundering, so here's Microsoft's next scheme to charge
> a | royalty to users of Linux, and to make Novell into the next SCO. |
> Groklaw, a widely-respected journal of technology law, probably said it
> | best with their headline on this story: Novell Sells Out. | | This
> entire agreement hinges around software patenting - monopolies on |
> ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation - rather than
> | innovation. If we've learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open |
> Source, it's that intellectual property protection - the thing that Open
> | Source dispenses with - actually impedes innovation. And the |
> Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment. `----
>
> http://technocrat.net/d/2006/11/2/9945
>
> This is an excellent writeup.
>
> I have noticed an unusual thread on the Opensuse mailing list this
> morning. People say farewell to Novell.
I have an alternative analysis. I disagree with the doom sayers.
Microsoft will not make any patent claims against Linux, at least not as
long as that would mean mutual assured destruction in a patent nuke
exchange with IBM.
Nor will Microsoft claim stolen code, as SCO did. SCO has done an
excellent job of proving that the Linux kernel is clean as Mother Teresa's
soul.
Instead, Microsoft will prefer that the FUD will remain unsaid, yet
floating in the air. "Use Suse (and pay the Microsoft tax) or we may sue
you for license violations and patent infringement."
I actually see some positive in the situation. Read this CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/03/microsoft.novell.ap/index.html
"Microsoft Corp. has embraced Novell Inc.'s open-source software platform,
forming a technological truce between two longtime antagonists who want to
make it easier for the still-dominant Windows operating system and the
increasingly popular Linux system to work together."
[...]
"Microsoft's stamp of approval, extracted after six months of
negotiations, represents a coup for Waltham, Massachusetts-based Novell as
it touts the advantage of its version of Linux over other varieties made
by competitors such as Red Hat Inc."
I do not agree with the viewpoint and many of the alleged fact of the CNN
article. That said, what is important, is that this article represents a
viewpoint that is likely similar to the average computer user.
The message to that average user is, Linux is so popular that not even
Microsoft can continue to pretend that it isn't growing and here to stay.
As for how this will work out for Novel, anyone embracing Microsoft should
expect to find at least one knife in their back, buried to the hilt.
--
Tony Sivori
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