Factual details about the new release will come on Saturday, but for amusement purposes only, here is an E-mail that I received (just… slightly… modified)
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The openSUSE team proudly announces the availability of openSUSE 10.3, to be renamed Enterprise Windows-compatible Linux in the next version.
We’re shipping all the latest open source packages that are available after Mr. Ballmer has completed a quick inspection. As highlights, we’d like to point out the latest desktops, GNOME 2.20 and KDE 3.5.7 plus KDE 4 preview, our MP3 support with Microsoft’s patent coverage (courtesy of Alcatel-Lucent) via gstreamer plug-in by Fluendo, a dual boot process (for Vista), heavily optimised and improved package management, 1-click install option for additional software (patent protection for this idea from Microsoft will last for another 4 years, but Amazon’s one-click-shopping patent remains a threat), OpenOffice 2.3 (with OOXML support), XEN 3.1 and VirtualBox 1.5 (SUSE Linux-exclusive thanks to the interop lab and the joint efforts with our good friends from Redmond) and, last but not least, our 1 CD installation which provides a small but fully loaded Vista trial version. For all the news and impressive screenshots, have a look at http://news.opensuse.org/?p=400 and have a look at things to come at http://microsoft.com/products/vienna
It’s available now to download at http://software.openSUSE.org, only as a x86 version (64-bit is impractical, according to our partners at Redmond and PPC is only used by rival companies) – from our mirrors and via bittorrent.
The following ISOs can be downloaded: the 1 CD open source version with an add-on CD containing proprietary software, such as WGA, Windows Media Player, XPS reader, HD viewer, Silverlight Limited Edition, RealNetworks RealPlayer, .NET clone called Mono, and Sun Java Runtime Environment. DVD ISOs for all architectures are available and contain the open source version plus proprietary add-ons. An installable Live CD will be released in October, and the Edu add-on CD [http://en.opensuse.org/Education] will show up in the same time frame. However, thanks to our recently-commissioned studies, we are told that children prefer Windows.
As usual, openSUSE 10.3 will be available in European retail channels as a boxed product. The Register reports that the price in Britain exceeds 3,000 pounds (true story). In North America, the box will be available through shopNovell [http://shop.novell.com]. Due to production lead times and disruption due to the layoffs that Novell is expecting in October 2007 boxes will start to show up on shelves and in online shops approximately on Oct 11th. Pre-orders can be placed here: http://en.opensuse.org/Buy_openSUSE
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Microsoft and the whole openSUSE community for tons of protection, coupons, attacking rival Linux distribution with FUD, testing, feedback, contributions and over all participation in helping to make openSUSE 10.3 an awesome distribution. While risking missing out some important contributors, we’d like to spotlight some community members (some of whom are paid) for their outstanding work:
- Ballmer for Producing FUD against rival Linuxes
- Hilf for relentless ‘patent terrorism’
- Francis for Sneak Peeks [http://news.opensuse.org/?cat=17]
- Beineri for his Quickies [http://news.opensuse.org/?cat=12]
- Benji for the 1-click install [http://news.opensuse.org/?p=133]
- Pascal and sPIN for community help [http://help.opensuse.org/]
- All the community translators –
Have a look at this new article from vnunet.com. The president of the Open Source Consortium hits Microsoft right where it hurts by calling Microsoft’s tactics what they are:
“This has been the strategy against open source all along. It’s precisely the same tactics as SCO used: implied threats and mafia techniques. This is just FUD. It’s smoke and mirrors. ”
Equally damning terms were also articulated by Mark Shuttleworth, who called it racketeering and extortion, which are of course illegal acts. We at BoycottNovell admire these people’s courage to put their name and reputation into this by stating the facts.
By all means remember that Microsoft escapes every opportunity it gets using every excuse available not to disclose specific details about its claim. It wasn’t long ago that Microsoft blamed paperwork for having no inclination to provide details. Wouldn’t you sympathise? Legal paperwork costs a lot of money. It would be pricey to produce evidence and Microsoft is truly on a ‘tight budget’, right?
This type of filthy behavior by Microsoft speaks volumes. A patent system assumes that those who rely on it are gentlemen, not so-called ‘patentterrorists‘.
An item protesting against the adoption of OpenSUSE was submitted to Digg.com yesterday. It gained votes at a pace that is far more than sufficient to make the front page. After personal insults and many ‘bury’ calls from the usual suspects, the item got buried.
I was hoping that none of the announcements of the release of OpenSUSE 10.3 would not reach the front page of Digg.com, but the SUSE community had its way and it also plugged in some positive comments to the item which received high visibility.
That’s a shame. If you watch the comments in about 10 submissions announcing the release, you would see that a great (and vocal) majority dislikes this deal, which puts developers at risk unless they join the Novell ‘protection racket/cartel’.
Poor patents, which include patents on software and business methods, are bound to spread damage and it shows. Here is the latest case of harassment.
A Texas company has sued AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, claiming that all four web giants have infringed its patent “for conducting business transactions over the Internet”.
[...]
“Defendants have used, and continue to use, Plaintiff Performance Pricing’s patented technology methods and systems that they make, use, sell, and offer to sell, without Plaintiff’s permission,” the suit reads. “Plaintiff seeks damages for patent infringement and an injunction preventing Defendants from making, using, selling, or offering to sell technology claimed by the patent without Plaintiff’s permission.”
Microsoft is not better off, by the way, because it not only claims infringements, but it also refuses to give details. It blames paperwork for the inability to be more specific.
Update: IBM appears to be realising the negative impact of bad patents. It has just sent out the following message in response to a Slashdot rant that made big waves.
IBM has put into the public domain and withdrawn its application for patent number US2007/0162321 – Outsourcing of Services. This patent application covers analyzing work flows, skills, economic costs, etc. Here’s why we are withdrawing it — IBM adopted a new policy a year ago to sharply reduce business method patent filings and instead stress significant technical content in its patents. Even though the patent application in question was filed eight months before the policy took effect in September, 2006, had the policy been in place at the time, IBM would not have filed the application. We’re glad the community pointed this application out so IBM could take swift action.
In the press, Novell keeps attributing its ‘success’ to Microsoft, which is both tactless and absurd. Novell is now in a very uncomfortable position where it has to play nice with Microsoft, which is also its main rival. The same cannot be said about Microsoft, so it’s not reciprocal; it’s a one-way relationship. Novell is Microsoft-dependent, but Microsoft does not need Novell. Microsoft only requires Novell’s help as a proxy that affects about a dozen threats and realigns them in Microsoft’s favour.
If you were to look at the news just months before Ron Hovsepian phoned Microsoft to negotiate, you’ll find this:
Microsoft Corp is using scare tactics to exert pressure on PC vendors not to explore the potential of desktop Linux, according to Novell Inc president and COO, Ron Hovsepian.
Also recall some of the following memorable quotes.
From Jim Allchin, Platform Group Vice President:
“We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger….If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger.”
From Paul Flessner, Senior Vice President, Server Applications Unit:
“We should whack them [Dell over Linux dealings], we should make sure they understand our value.”
And from Joachim Kempin, Microsoft OEM Chief:
“I’m thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux. … they should do a delicate dance”
“Novell was desperate.”It is very clear that Microsoft is not genuinely interested in helping Novell, so let’s just wait until the honeymoon is over and Novell is yet again betrayed by Microsoft. Will Novell finally learn its lesson then? Microsoft has already turned Novell against a mutual rival — Red Hat, with whom Novell could have and should have collaborated. Novell partnered with the wrong foe to attack the wrong foe; it aligned with the proprietary world and a convicted monopoly abuser to fight Free software instead of doing the very opposite. Novell was desperate.
Office May Be Microsoft’s Next Antitrust Battlefield
My take from the cheap seats: Keep an eye on the Windows fight if you like, but the Office game is where you’ll be seeing the most action. Players are already trash-talking about office document formats.
“Novell has moral responsibilities for Microsoft, not just standards.”This was mentioned before in a different context. After the European Commission had gotten the upper hand in its ruling (appeal might come), some spoke about a more vicious monopoly that is office suites. As we have witnessed, Microsoft has not only used proprietary (and thus hostile) file formats to maintain a monopoly, but it also resorted to bribery in its pursuit for a global perception that these proprietary formats are actually open. If Novell played a role in this game of domination, it probably did more harm than good to ODF, for reasons that we listed several times in the past. Novell has moral responsibilities for Microsoft, not just standards.
Yesterday we mentioned a setback for Mono and now is the time to elaborate a little.
Faith in Mono is hurt not because of technical limitations, but because of legal implications (and complications). Other than the fact that .NET can ‘lock out’ Mono as it evolves (the technical aspect) there is the issue of patents and — even worse — an SCO-like claim of stolen code. And that’s the thing Novell is betting its business on — Mono.
Remember that Novell has Mono ‘IP protection’ for 4 years (however unnecessary such a ‘protection’ might be); nobody else has it, not even Linspire and Xandros. This does not, however, cover cases where Microsoft can claim that it saw similar blocks of code in both implementations, both of which are available for public viewing now. As we have seen before, Microsoft is never reluctant to make unspecific claims either, just in order to create FUD and deter customer, thereby stifling the adoption of Free software.
Far-fetched? Well, not if you look at Microsoft’s history. Microsoft is playing to win, and it seems to believe the only way to win is if open source loses. This is myopic, but the company refuses to get LASIK.
As we said yesterday, Miguel de Icaza isn’t particularly excited either and here are his own words.
The source code is released under a new license they are calling the Microsoft Reference License, this is not an open source license.
He does not talk about the dangers that this move by Microsoft poses.
Watch some of the latest comments in Matt Asay’s blog because they are interesting. Justin Steinman still doesn’t get it and Dave Rosenberg (MuleSource CEO) says the following:
Pathetic attempt to be relevant
It is so disappointing and pathetic that this is the path that Novell has taken. At this point I would prefer less Linux adoption to anyone choosing Suse.
As we have already said, you are encouraged to stay away from OpenSUSE (10.3 officially released today) for a variety of reasons.
Remember that Novell has Mono ‘IP protection’ for 4 years (however unnecessary such a ‘protection’ might be); nobody else has it, not even Linspire and Xandros. This does not, however, cover cases where Microsoft can claim that it saw similar blocks of code in both implementations, both of which are available for public viewing now. As we have seen before, Microsoft is never reluctant to make unspecific claims either, just in order to create FUD and deter customer, thereby stifling the adoption of Free software.
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