Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 3rd Nov 2006 16:08 UTC, submitted by twickline
GNU, GPL, Open Source 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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RE[5]: Tinfoil hats
by segedunum on Fri 3rd Nov 2006 20:46 UTC in reply to "RE[4]: Tinfoil hats"
segedunum
Member since:
2005-07-06

What Novell gains is the ability to say to its customers that it will indemnify them from harm.

Yes, harm - from Microsoft. It's like a protection racket. The protection means absolutely nothing, and Microsoft can revoke it at any time.

...but they would have to defend their customers in the event of a patent suit from MS

Why?

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