Star 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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RE[3]: great!
by Michael on Mon 18th Jun 2007 19:46 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: great!"
Michael
Member since:
2005-07-01

Do executives and politicians routinely reject profitable and expedient positions just because their customers and constituents oppose them?

All the time. Politicians in particular are always having to do really stupid stuff because voters in key marginals want it.

The point is that even if Mark signed a Microsoft deal, which would be quite unpopular in the Ubuntu community, a small bloc will leave for Debian, many will complain on the forums, and most will continue to use Ubuntu in spite of their disappointment. Signing a Microsoft patent covenant wouldn't hurt the Ubuntu project significantly, and it could smooth the way for corporate desktop wins.

I disagree. I think you underestimate the importance of popularity to a project like Ubuntu. SUSE was always a corporate distro. It's users weren't the idealists of the Linux world. Ubuntu's users are. They are also it's only real asset. They provide free advertising as well as free documentation and support. Many encourage takeup of Ubuntu in the workplace, which is where the money will come from in the long term. Without the endless fanboyism that infests the internet and parts beyond, Ubuntu is Yet Another Distro.

Mark Shuttleworth is refusing to sign a patent covenant not because it is a popular decision among the netroots free software community, but because it is the right thing to do.

Good one. You don't seriously mean right as in morally right ... do you? Executives and Politicians always follow the money and often bow to public pressure but they never, EVER Do The Right Thing!

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