02.13.07
Novell’s Deal Holds Back the GPL
Reuters, which has made quite a terrible mistake recently, argues that the latest GPLv3 delay is due to the Novell/Microsoft deal.
Linux license delayed by Novell/Microsoft review
The partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. has delayed completion of a new license that will govern rights to key parts of the Linux operating system.
Novell insisted that it would be able to comply with GPLv3. However, this goes back to the days when the licence was drafted, so it seems likely that Moglen et al. are ‘patching’ the text. Jeremy Allison (of Samba fame) shrewdly said that he does not like exploits in his license just as he does not like exploits in his code.
Here’s an interesting take on the power struggle between the FSF and Novell. Its ending is one with which I concur.
Microsoft is not a friend to Linux, and to believe that their dealings with Novell are not part of a long-term plan to backdoor the Linux way of doing things is frankly laughable. Once you understand this, I will say that Novell has done a lot for the Linux community previously. As such, while faulting them in this whole matter is not easy for me, I can’t see how this entire thing is not going to prove to be troublesome a few years down the road.
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