Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 3rd Nov 2006 16:08 UTC, submitted by twickline
Of course the net is buzzing with reactions to the Novell-Microsoft agreement of yesterday. Bruce Perens is very negative about it all: "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." Eben Moglen of the FSF says about the possible GPL issues: "If you make an agreement which requires you to pay a royalty to anybody for the right to distribute GPL software, you may not distribute it under the GPL."
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Member since:
2006-02-04
"Let me get this straight: Novell makes a deal with Microsoft to protect itself against possible patent infringement lawsuits -- and you're ready to throw the SUSE disc in the trash? Unbelievable. Talk about a zealot..."
Yes, I would. I did. Novell has turned themselves into Microsoft's pet Linux distro. They have the same source code everybody else does. Why are they the only ones afraid of "possible patent infringment"? When has MS ever produced any proof that Linux is infringing on one of their patents? There was no need for this deal until MS produced some proof. At best they look like the fools who purchased licenses from SCO.
But it's worse than that. Novell is selling out and trying to both lock up and impugn the work of an entire community. Perhaps you're young and naive but at my age I've seen just about every manner of backstabbing and sleazy legal maneuvering possible. That's exactly what this is and I decline to be a party to it.
On second thought I've decided to get my disc out of the trash. I'm mailing it back to them along a polite letter telling them goodbye and good riddance.