Bonum Certa Men Certa

Analysing the Rationale for the Deal

Mark Antony Kent submits the following take on Novell's deal:

"Presumably this deal really goes back to Novell's roots. Their heritage is entirely that of a proprietary software vendor, who've been competing with Microsoft for at least a couple of decades, and mostly losing.

As things got really bad for Novell, the board was very aware that the only growth area which was not dominated by Microsoft was in free software, so they looked around to see what they could do. The most promising of all the distributions at that time was Suse, based in Germany (important - not in the US), had good traction in Europe and was well respected globally.

Like most of the early distributors, Suse was doing financially okay, but no more than that, and was desperate for cash to fund their continued expansion; working in a commodity environment means working with very very narrow margins, having significant investment can make that much less painful.

So, it looks like a match made in heaven. Novell, the well respected US-based networking company, investing in, indeed buying, one of the big four Linux distributors. Everyone in both the stock-markets and the open-source world applauded the move; Novell had a new lease of life in the server arena, their traditional market place, /and/ got to push Suse for the desktop too. Until Ubuntu came along, Suse was considered by many to be the most mature business desktop offering.

Unfortunately for all concerned, although the match was reasonably successful, and Novell have enjoyed a steadily increasing penetration into the desktop and server markets previously dominated by Microsoft and Unix vendors, the rate wasn't all that high, and was damaged by the SCO activity, something Novell found itself on the wrong side of, but was acutely aware it was in the spotlight.

At about the same time, the FSF and Prof Moglen began work on GPL3. GPL3 is intended to prevent the last great legal threat possibility against linux and free software, that of patent fud. When the GPL was first created, this wasn't much of an issue, because nobody had been granting patents for trivial software, but, the USPTO was made a profit centre, and its managers realised very quickly that in order to make their profit, so that they could get their bonusses, they must grant as many patents as they possibly can; which is what they did. Patents have been granted for such triviata as an "icon on a screen" to such obvious developments with prior art, such as moving email on a packet-radio link (RIM suffered from that one, even though it's been going on for decades).

So, as the SCO debacle reached its peak, the FSF people were considering how to counter this new threat against freedom, albeit a threat resulting from a series of blunders by the US Government, including starting to offer software patents, and then making money from granting them. Thus, GPL3 is born.

The evironment in which GPL3 came to pass should be considered carefully, and compared with GPL2. For GPL2, most developers were freelancing in some way or other, perhaps paid by some employer, but their work wasn't germane to the company, perhaps students or academics, or enthusiasts working at night in their cellars. Thus, GPL2 addressed their fears very well - their work could not be taken by anyone else, improved and sold-on, without the improvements being returned to the code base. A reasonable proposition, although even then, major companies such as Microsoft were already calling it a Cancer, precisely because they were not able to take the work and pass it off as their own.

By the time GPL3 is being written, though, free software has become something of a victim of its own success. Many, if not most, developers are now working for commercial organisations, or, if not, at least they're working for "not for profits". Thus the whole attitude to patents is affected, if not dominated, by the legal departments of their employers. The concepts of "RAND" - reasonable and non-discriminatory, are preferred licensing methods by many companies, based on the sage advice of their senior legal people. Why? Because they still do not understand how software is developed, or why free software has been so successful. There is still the view that free software can be "de-commoditised" in some way, although any economist worth his salt will tell you that this is exceptionally difficult to achieve (but not impossible).

So, whilst the previous generation of academics, cellar-dwellers, students and part-time coders were happy to have their own work protected by GPL2, the current generation are having to look over their shoulder at their legal team for GPL3, but their legal teams do not necessarily understand why GPL2 exists; they might understand what it means, but they don't understand why its there. Thus, GPL3 is getting a rough ride indeed from many people. An additional argument has been that GPL3 is not the right route to resolving the software patent problem, indeed, it's just possible that this is true, however, pragmatically, it's likely to be the only one which will work, unless someone seriously believes that the free software community can take on and beat the US government on patents granting - something I doubt very much.



Microsoft have learnt a lot from their funding of SCO to claim copyright on Linux. These lessons include that the approach was, in fact, surprisingly successful. There's always a pundit or analyst who can make money from selling the FUD on in companies, and as most companies, and lawyers, are naturally very conservative and cautious, merely making a public accusation can be enough to stop customers from moving to linux. However, the second lesson has been that whilst the wrath of the free software community doesn't scare them one bit, the steady loss of customers to the free software world scares them greatly. They have no fear of the FSF, of Linus T, of ESR or of RMS, but they are terrified of linux distributions which prove that free software is good enough for most uses, and they're terrified of the GPL, which protects them.

So, they've gone for a second round of legal attack. This is nothing new for Microsoft, indeed, the SCO case was nothing new. From the beginning, Microsoft have been about manipulating the legal system to their own ends, and marketing heavily to persuade an unknowledgeable public of their wholesome aims. The agreement with Novell is just one more step from Bill Gate's original letter regarding the copying of basic, sent just scant months after he'd stolen printouts himself in order to write the basic, Microsoft have never played this game with anything less than four Aces up each sleeve.

Microsoft saw GPL3 coming along like a high-speed train, and they were struggling to get over the level-crossing. They knew that they had just a few weeks, months at most, to get a patent attack in, before the free software world began to recognise the huge danger this poses, so, they did one of the things they're best at. They charmed the board of a company - in this case, a competing company, but one which they knew was still cash-strapped, was not growing at the rate it wanted to, and was still painfully aware of how close it had come to litigation in the SCO case. Whilst IBM might have protected Novell, it might not have done, and where would that leave the boys from Utah? So Microsoft found very fertile territory in the Novell board. People whose real background was proprietary code, networking and unix; people who understood lock-in and licences, and people who were desperate for both more cash and for peace of mind that they would not be under attack from Microsoft. But, most of all, they were a company board who were desperate to do better than the market leader in their space, Red Hat, and also do better than the very well funded upstart, Ubuntu.

Microsoft played, as always, several Aces from each sleeve. They agreed to provide a seal of approval for Novell Linux; they agreed to stop fuding it in public. They wouldn't actually stop, of course - they'd keep those Aces for later, and let Novell's lawyers argue it out for as long as they could afford to, Microsoft never needs to keep any promises it makes, it's rich enough to avoid that, another Ace up its sleeve. But more importantly, they agreed to not attack Novell's customers legally, whilst agreeing not to reach a similar agreement with any other linux distributor.

Well, after a few hearty meals, glasses of beer, wine and spirits, how could an offer like that look anything other than gold-plated? What more could a CEO want than to protect both his company, and his customers, from Microsoft's attacks? It would be bound to improve his company's standing in the Linux world, and on the stock-markets. At least, that's what a CEO, fresh out of the proprietary world would think. A CEO with experience of the free software world would've seen all the landmines, pitfalls and caltrops scattered along this road, and would also have been far more aware of GPL3 and why it was being written - to protect his company and his customers from precisely this problem.

I suspect that the real winner from this debacle with be GPL3, as it will highlight the persistent danger which Microsoft poses to the free software world. Microsoft have certainly lost the server battle and the mobility battle and are in the process of losing the embedded battle and the console battles; they look like they will also lose the desktop battle, although it might take longer, but they are very very cash-rich, very powerful, and have far from abandoned the war.

I strongly recommend that anyone who's written off GPL3 as unecessary reconsiders their position in the light of the Novell/Microsoft deal."

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
 
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
They also mention MOK
Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
The users no longer own or control what they buy
Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
what Andy recently called "solutionism"
Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
Links for the day
Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
Focusing on Patents
The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
"Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
Not everyone reboots every day
Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
Links for the day
EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025
Satya's Plan B: Try to Hide the Massive Extent/Scale/Scope of Microsoft Layoffs
fewer people buy Microsoft
Red Hat News About De Facto Mass Layoffs (Bluewashing) Gone From Reddit (Censored by Gatekeepers), Still Online in The Register
With RTOs, PIPs, relocation etc. expect IBM to "shed off" many Red Hatters
UEFI "Secure Boot Doesn’t Play Nice at the Moment"
UEFI "Secure Boot" does not improve security. It's an artificial obstacle in service of monopoly.
Gemini Links 14/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH, Music, and Reddit
Links for the day
If You Want to "make your 'Windows PC' lean, mean, and fast" You Will Install GNU/Linux or Some BSD
That kind of article says a lot about IDG
Slopwatch: Google News Infested With Slop (About Half of the Results for "Linux" Today)
This is the sort of junk one finds when looking for "Linux" in Google News these days
Links 14/09/2025: Ricky Hatton Dies and McDonald's Declares War on Tipping Culture
Links for the day
Links 14/09/2025: Disasters for CEOs Obsessed With Slop and Slop Companies School Like Fish
Links for the day
"Bad Shim Signature" (Microsoft 'Secure' Boot)
"Fresh install not booting"
What Microsoft Garrett and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
Similar tactics, different "wings"
Links 14/09/2025: US "Economy Sagging", "Michigan Economy Wobbles From Tariffs"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/09/2025: Minimalist Snippet Manager and Omarchy Linux
Links for the day
The Face of the Digital Far Right: Microsoft Lunduke
Microsoft Lunduke is an online extremist that belongs to and panders to the far right
20 Years Later and Academia Isn't the Same
"I never dreamed of being a professor"
'Cancel Culture' by the Right: Microsoft Lunduke Contacts People's Employers Trying to Get Them Fired
Microsoft Lunduke panders to extremists online
"Bad Shim Signature"; So 'Secure' That It Overrides Users' Preferences and Turns Itself Back on (Coercive Measure)
This was a few hours ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 13, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 13, 2025