Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 12th Nov 2006 22:48 UTC, submitted by nedvis
"The Samba Team disapproves strongly of the actions taken by Novell on November 2nd. One of the fundamental differences between the proprietary software world and the free software world is that the proprietary software world divides users by forcing them to agree to coercive licensing agreements which restrict their rights to share with each other, whereas the free software world encourages users to unite and share the benefits of the software. The patent agreement struck between Novell and Microsoft is a divisive agreement. It deals with users and creators of free software differently depending on their 'commercial' versus 'non-commercial' status, and deals with them differently depending on whether they obtained their free software directly from Novell or from someone else. The goals of the Free Software community and the GNU GPL allow for no such distinctions."
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Member since:
2005-09-10
From the article: "Using patents as competitive tools in the free software world is not acceptable."
That's what I've been saying here on osnews and elsewhere about the Novell-MS deal. Free software and companies providing free software solutions so far competed on technical excellence and quality of service. Novell and Microsoft muddied the water by raising the patent flag.
Many tried to deny that Novell did something bad, saying this deal means nothing, or it is unlikely that MS will go after RH, and those who were disappointed or felt betrayed by the deal were GPL-zealots, paranoid, etc. Some even cited Novell's own FAQ as proof (lol)
"The patent agreement struck between Novell and Microsoft is a divisive agreement. It deals with users and creators of free software differently depending on their "commercial" versus "non-commercial" status, and deals with them differently depending on whether they obtained their free software directly from Novell or from someone else."
We may speculate all day about what the deal exactly means, what MS will or will not do (can or cannot do), and these are important questions... but whatever answer you may come up with, will be difficult to prove. There is on undeniable fact that is immediately obvious if one reads the agreement (and even Novell's FAQ, announcments, etc.): that Novell (with the help of Microsoft) are using patents as a competetive tool, and"using patents as competitive tools in the free software world is not acceptable."
This is one of the most elegant and concise summary of the problems (at least of my perception of the problems). I was never quite sure how this deal violates the GPL (but I don't denied the possibility either, for IANAL and don't have all the details at hand). What I like about the Samba team's announcement is that they find one of the few* problems of the deal that is absolutely undeniable even without knowing all the details.
[*] For me, this was the single most important problem, but I wrote "few" because they may be others as well.