05.26.10

What Novell Still Does: Software Patents and .NET

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Mono, Novell at 4:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Ron Hovsepian begs Ballmer

Summary: Supine, weak, miserable Novell is doing the only things it still knows how to do, namely assisting Microsoft and amassing controversial patents on computer algorithms

FIVE more software patents have just been granted to Novell, which loves software patents very much (it’s always just software patents from Novell because Novell is not a hardware company). Microsoft too loves software patents because 85% of Microsoft's patent applications are said to be software patents.

Here is a list of Novell’s latest patents:

Method for rule locating, ordering and combining in a polyhierarichical environment , patent No. 7,725,416, invented by Duane Buss of West Mountain, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Recurrent billing maintenance with radio-frequency payment devices , patent No. 7,725,427, invented by Fred Bishop of Glendale, Ariz., and Peter D. Saunders of Salt Lake City.

System and method for restoring a database in a distributed database system , patent No. 7,725,428, invented by Brian Hawkins of Santaquin, Andrew Hodgkinson of Pleasant Grove, Daniel Sanders of Orem and Steven S. McLain of Provo, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Defragmentation in a virtual environment , patent No. 7,725,506, invented by Russell R. Stringham of Orem, assigned to Symantec Corp. of Mountain View, Calif.

System and method for providing advanced reservations in a compute environment , patent No. 7,725,583, invented by David B. Jackson of Spanish Fork, assigned to Adaptive Computing Enterprises Inc. of Provo.

System and method of imaging a memory module while in functional operation , patent No. 7,725,670, invented by Matthew A. Misbach of Orem, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Generic template to autogenerate reports for software target testing , patent No. 7,725,772, invented by Philip J. Proto of Groveland, Mass., assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Audio-related system node instantiation , patent No. 7,725,826, invented by Richard Allen Kreifeldt of South Jordan, John Lee of Salt Lake City, William A. Plunkett of Granger, Ind., Timothy J. Shuttleworth of Woodland Hills, Calif., Andrew Stevenson of Hemel Hempstead, U.K. and Bruce Vander Werf of Elkhart, Ind., assigned to Harman International Industries Inc. of Northridge, Calif.

System and method for using sandboxes in a managed shell , patent No. 7,725,922, invented by Sebastien Pouliot of Beauport, Calif., assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Mono and Moonlight are known to be patent problems, but why would Novell mind? It has patent ‘peace’ with Microsoft, unlike those other distributors of GNU/Linux. Novell is marketing itself based on this whole exclusive "peace of mind" thing.

Looking a few days back, Adrian Bridgwater from ZDNet was escorted by Microsoft and Novell to promote their relationship while IDG and The Register promote this Novell/Microsoft .NET assault on the Linux-based Android [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. The Street has a copy of one article

Novell, for its part, is announcing MonoDroid, a software development kit for building Android applications using code and libraries written for the Microsoft .Net development framework and languages like C#. MonoDroid functions with the Android SDK.

If this is how Novell ‘contributes’ to GNU/Linux, then it's better off sold away. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Patent Extremism is Not Normal and Not an Innocent Mindset

Reflection upon the sad state of the European patent system and how media turns a blind eye to it; worldwide, in general, the discussion about patents is being warped by the litigation giants, whose sole goal is to maximise the number of lawsuits/shakedowns (personal gain)
Links 22/9/2019: LLVM 9.0.0 and FreeBSD 12.1 Beta

Links for the day
Links 21/9/2019: Plasma 5.17 Beta in Kubuntu, Cockpit 203

Links for the day
IBM Cannot Become a True Friend of Free Software Because of Its Current Patent Policy

IBM needs to quit bullying people/companies with software patents; that would help towards appeasement of IBM critics and sceptics
When Patent 'Professionals' Sound Like Children Who Learned to Parrot Some Intentionally-Misleading Buzzwords, Myths and Lies

With buzzwords like "AI" and misleading terms like "IP" the litigation zealots are trying to convince themselves (and the public) that software is a physical thing and a "property" which needs "protecting" from "theft"; it doesn't seem to bother these people that copyright law already covers software<
The European Parliament Needs to Become More Outspoken About EPO Abuses

There are few encouraging signs in Europe right now because the EPO's disregard for patent law (striving to just grant as many patents as possible) earned it much-needed backlash from the European Parliament
Links 19/9/2019: German Federal Ministry of the Interior Wants FOSS, Top Snaps Named

Links for the day
Buying the Voices of 'Linux' People to Repeat Microsoft's Talking Points While Removing Our Icons and Leaders (Calling Them Sexist)

The dirty games leveraged by several companies including Microsoft target charismatic people who are essential for morale and leadership; these tactics aren't particularly novel
When the EPO Sees Itself as Above European Law, Grants Patents in Defiance of the EPC (Its Founding Document) and Violates Staff's Labour Rights/Protections (International Law)

The absurd state of affairs at the EPO has reached the point where laws at every level are being violated and even judges are being threatened or vainly ignored; the EU is belatedly trying to tackle these issues, which have actually cost its credibility a great deal and threaten the perception of Rule of Law at multiple levels
Links 19/9/2019: Samba 4.11.0 and Kubernetes 1.16

Links for the day
Update on Koch v EPO: Internal Appeals Committee (IAC) Composition Still Likely Illegal

An important EPO case, concerning a dismissed staff representative, shows what ILO-AT and the EPO's Internal Appeals Committee boil down to
Links 18/9/2019: Fedora Linux 31 Beta, PCLinuxOS 2019.09 Update

Links for the day
Links 17/9/2019: CentOS 7.7 and Funtoo Linux 1.4 Released

Links for the day
EPO is Not European

Internationalists and patent trolls are those who stand to benefit from the 'globalisation' of low-quality and law-breaking patents such as patents on algorithms, nature and life itself; the EPO isn't equipped to serve its original goals anymore
The EPO's Central Staff Committee and SUEPO (Staff Union) Respond to “Fascist Bills” Supported by EPO President António Campinos

Raw material pertaining to the latest Campinos "scandal"; what Campinos said, what the Central Staff Committee (CSC) said, and what SUEPO said
Storm Brewing in the European Patent Office After a Hot Summer

Things aren't rosy in EPOnia (to say the least); in fact, things have been getting a lot worse lately, but the public wouldn't know judging by what media tells the public (almost nothing)
Why I Once Called for Richard Stallman to Step Down

Guest post from the developer who recently authored "Getting Stallman Wrong Means Getting The 21st Century Wrong"
As Richard Stallman Resigns Let's Consider Why GNU/Linux Without Stallman and Torvalds Would be a Victory to Microsoft

Stallman has been ejected after a lot of intentionally misleading press coverage; this is a dark day for Software Freedom
Links 16/9/2019: GNU Linux-libre 5.3, GNU World Order 13×38, Vista 10 Breaks Itself Again

Links for the day
Links 16/9/2019: Qt Quick on Vulkan, Metal, and Direct3D; BlackWeb 1.2 Reviewed

Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Controversial Views Are Nothing New and They Distract From Bill Gates' Vastly Worse Role

It's easier to attack Richard Stallman (RMS) using politics (than using his views on software) and media focus on Stallman's personal views on sexuality bears some resemblance to the push against Linus Torvalds, which leans largely on the false perception that he is sexist, rude and intolerant
Links 16/9/2019: Linux 5.3, EasyOS Releases, Media Backlash Against RMS

Links for the day
Openwashing Report on Open Networking Foundation (ONF): When Open Source Means Collaboration Among Giant Spying Companies

Massive telecommunications oligopolies (telecoms) are being described as ethical and responsible by means of openwashing; they even have their own front groups for that obscene mischaracterisation and ONF is one of those
'Open Source' You Cannot Run Without Renting or 'Licensing' Windows From Microsoft

When so-called ‘open source’ programs strictly require Vista 10 (or similar) to run, how open are they really and does that not redefine the nature of Open Source while betraying everything Free/libre software stands for?
All About Control: Microsoft is Not Open Source But an Open Source Censor/Spy and GitHub/LinkedIn/Skype Are Its Proprietary Censorship/Surveillance Tools

All the big companies which Microsoft bought in recent years are proprietary software and all of the company’s big products remain proprietary software; all that “Open Source” is to Microsoft is “something to control and censor“
The Sad State of GNU/Linux News Sites

The ‘media coup’ of corporate giants (that claim to be 'friends') means that history of GNU/Linux is being distorted and lied about; it also explains prevalent lies such as "Microsoft loves Linux" and denial of GNU/Free software
EPO President Along With Bristows, Managing IP and Other Team UPC Boosters Are Lobbying for Software Patents in Clear and Direct Violation of the EPC

A calm interpretation of the latest wave of lobbying from litigation professionals, i.e. people who profit when there are lots of patent disputes and even expensive lawsuits which may be totally frivolous (for example, based upon fake patents that aren't EPC-compliant)
Links 15/9/2019: Radeon ROCm 2.7.2, KDE Frameworks 5.62.0, PineTime and Bison 3.4.2

Links for the day
Illegal/Invalid Patents (IPs) Have Become the 'Norm' in Europe

Normalisation of invalid patents (granted by the EPO in defiance of the EPC) is a serious problem, but patent law firms continue to exploit that while this whole 'patent bubble' lasts (apparently the number of applications will continue to decrease because the perceived value of European Patents diminishes)
Patent Maximalists, Orbiting the European Patent Office, Work to 'Globalise' a System of Monopolies on Everything

Monopolies on just about everything are being granted in defiance of the EPC and there are those looking to make this violation ‘unitary’, even worldwide if not just EU-wide