Shuttleworth: No Negotiations with Microsoft in Progress
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 17th Jun 2007 17:42 UTC
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu "There's a rumour circulating that Ubuntu is in discussions with Microsoft aimed at an agreement along the lines they have concluded recently with Linspire, Xandros, Novell, etc. For the record, let me state my position, and I think this is also roughly the position of Canonical and the Ubuntu Community Council though I haven't caucused with the CC on this specifically. We have declined to discuss any agreement with Microsoft under the threat of unspecified patent infringements."
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stephanem
Member since:
2006-01-11

I think ubuntu and redhat have painted themselves in a corner that they can never really come out and say that they would also love to take Microsoft's money.


Distros like Xandros and Linspire are already the bad guys of the Linux industry - so for them to get into bed with Microsoft is a no brainer.

Reply Score: 2

sbergman27 Member since:
2005-07-24

"""
I think ubuntu and redhat have painted themselves in a corner that they can never really come out and say that they would also love to take Microsoft's money.
"""

Hey! Who *wouldn't* like Microsoft's money? But once one recognizes that the price of taking it is one's soul, can you really call that painting one's self into a corner?

One thing to be said for RedHat is that they truly believe, in their corporate executive hearts, that if they stick to the straight and narrow path, they will be rewarded. That philosophy has worked well for them so far. And although their faith in it could waiver in the future, there is no sign of that happening today.

Canonical, although they do not have the history that RedHat has to assist us in our judgement, seems to be sticking to the same path.

Edited 2007-06-17 22:54

Reply Parent Score: 4

elsewhere Member since:
2005-07-13

I think ubuntu and redhat have painted themselves in a corner that they can never really come out and say that they would also love to take Microsoft's money.


Who exactly is getting money from Microsoft as part of this scheme? Not Linspire, not Xandros, not Novell. These companies are paying a per-unit fee to MS for each license sold. Red Hat and Canonical would be expected to do the same.

Now, Novell is getting money back from MS, but that's because Novell holds a number of patents that MS may be potentially violating. So Novell winds up with more money than they pay out, simply because Windows sells more than Suse. Neither Red Hat nor Ubuntu are in a position to squeeze money out in return for the "licensing" program MS is promoting.

There's much to dispute about this tactic from Microsoft, but let's not confuse the issue by claiming it's a case of MS throwing money around. That's not the case. These distros are voluntarily paying money to MS, but keep in mind that MS is exploiting a broken US patent system and the distros involved play heavily in the US market.

People can complain about these deals all they want, but they're only symptomatic of a bigger problem.

Reply Parent Score: 2

lemur2 Member since:
2007-02-17

Neither Red Hat nor Ubuntu are in a position to squeeze money out in return for the "licensing" program MS is promoting.


Microsoft did not write any of the software in Red Hat or Ubuntu distributions, so they have nothing to license out.

Microsoft are more at threat over patents than Linux is, because Linux is based on well-established prior art.

Microsoft are not in a position to legitimately "squeeze money" out of Linux.

Edited 2007-06-18 04:49

Reply Parent Score: 4