"Often cast as the peacemaker in free software disputes, Bruce Perens is on the warpath. When we caught up with him, he wasn't in a mood to be charitable to Novell. On Friday the Utah company, which markets the SuSE Linux distribution, revealed that it was entering into a partnership with Microsoft. Redmond would pay Novell an undisclosed sum in return for Novell recognizing Microsoft's intellectual property claims. Novell received a 'Covenant' promising that it wouldn't be sued by Microsoft."It's a case of 'Damn the people who write the software'", he told us. "Novell is in a desperate position - it has a smaller share of the market than Debian,"" he told The Register. Update: Novell responds to community's questions: here, here and here. Update 2: Havoc Pennington's take.
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Member since:2005-09-10
Novell in now way acknowledged that any particular code contains patent-infringing IP.
So, the mutual patent protection agreement is about ... what?
"Under the patent agreement, customers will receive coverage for Mono, Samba, and OpenOffice as well as .NET and Windows Server."
This is a direct acknowledgement of the possibility of MS patents in some opensource software that isn't even developed at Novell. The only way it could be more direct if Novell made a statement that openoffice.org is infringing on Microsoft's patents. Did you expect them to do that? I guess unless you see such a statement, you won't accept the fact that the quoted passage is< an acknowledgment of the existence of patent infringing IP. Why would you need such a deal otherwise? Why does this only apply to Novell customers?
Member since:2005-07-07
So, the mutual patent protection agreement is about ... what?
Yeah, exactly. Imagine, Novell customers will be protected against ... "what?".
No more silly walking into the store and buying ... "what?". No more fear to be sued against ... "what?"
Ok, let me be serious and explain. Or at least, what is my opinion about what was said in FAQ. There is a lot of FUD and Novell which probably made Novell harder to sell Linux. People wanted indemnification (even though they didn't even know against what), and that is one way to get them what they wanted.
This is a direct acknowledgement of the possibility of MS patents in some opensource software that isn't even developed at Novell.
Nope, in FAQ, they deny that possibility. And I for one am prepared to give them benefit of the doubt until this thing becomes more public, when either Novell put out concrete facts or other side shows evidence of foul play.
Personally, I would much rather see I was right than wrong.
Member since:2005-07-07
(:and if you look my post was the first saying and pointing to explanation why Novell didn't break:)
Nah, I don't need explanation:) That was just my way how to politely kill NotParkers wish to start troll thread again. He posted almost the same topic all over MS-Novell threads and always people fallen for it. And it seems I wasn't the only one to get this idea.
Member since:2005-07-17
they are distributing GPL'd software MS is saying it "might" claim but not passing their patent "rights" Microsoft is granting along with the code to their customers that might distribute the programs... that's a violation.
Essentially, they are skirting the clause by not specifying which claims MS might be making... so just like SCO the are fueling FUD and complicit with the "Man".
Member since:2006-01-06
they are distributing GPL'd software MS is saying it "might" claim but not passing their patent "rights" Microsoft is granting along with the code to their customers that might distribute the programs... that's a violation.
If MS had enumerated the specific patents that it feels Novell might be violating, you might have a point. But MS hasn't done that. So, consequently, Novell doesn't know, exactly, which patents it would need to pass along. It has about as much relevance to the GPL as Novell and Microsoft agreeing that the sky is blue.
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move."A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane."MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Member since:
2006-01-06
You'll notice Perens didn't specify how Novell is violating GPL -- because he's fundamentally wrong. Novell and MS agreed not to sue each other. Novell in now way acknowledged that any particular code contains patent-infringing IP. It doesn't have to do that. That isn't necessary in order to have this truce with MS.