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
I have no proof or hard evidence, but I'd be willing to bet more business's do business in the gray area than not. Maybe they know it and maybe they don't.
But that wasn't really my point. My point is about the mindset of the people who run these business. While the community surrounding open source finds religion in software the business side of open source is looking for profit.
On the flip side of the coin if the Linux community is absolutely certain that it has infringed on no IP then why not press the issue by taking Microsoft to court or at least yelling very loudly 'put up or shut up'. Nobody on either side really want to go to court. Microsoft doesn't because they might loose or end up being sued themselves for patent infringement. Linux distro's won't because they might actually become liable (and many don't have the funds to fight it).
As for Chrysler. I figure they'd get laughed at as much as SCO did and Microsoft will. Of course the reality there is that Chrysler probably made patent and IP deals with the other car manufacturers. None of these companies really want to go to court to battle it out over patents. Most of the time licensing fees are going to be a lot cheaper than lawyer fees.