Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 4th Jun 2007 16:57 UTC, submitted by WillM
Microsoft, shrugging off licensing moves to prevent it from repeating its controversial patent deal with Novell, has signed a set of broad collaboration agreements with Linux provider Xandros that include an intellectual property assurance under which Microsoft will provide patent covenants for Xandros customers. In the meantime, Microsoft's covenant not to sue users of Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise will be extended to all General Public License v3 users as soon as Novell includes GPLv3 code within its Linux distribution, according to the Free Software Foundation.
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Member since:
2007-01-18
It's just business. Business make deals like this all the time. The only reason it's such a big deal now is because it's between Microsoft and (now) two Linux distributors.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these deals are good or bad or go against the spirit of the open source communities who support Linux. I'm simply saying that the deals are just business as usual.
With that said I still don't think deals like this give any weight to Microsoft's arguments about patents. I'm sure Microsoft will use it to further it's FUD about Linux and I'm sure a few people (business) will base a buying decision on that FUD. However, the reality is that until the patents or IP in question is pushed through the legal system and proven in Microsoft's favor it's nothing more than ramblings of Microsoft.