Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell is Knowingly Seeding GNU/Linux, MeeGo and Android With Microsoft Patents

More Interop



Summary: Another look at the negative effects of Novell not only on GNU/Linux desktops but also phones and tablets running Linux, the kernel

Whatever Novell is up to at the moment involves a good (or bad) deal of Mono. Pinta [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] is just one example of this trend as it continues to be developed while the SD Times, which promotes .NET and Mono quite regularly (even shamelessly) and gets named for it, is giving Mono the lip service Novell craves so much (rebuttal here). According to the comments in Linux Today, people do not welcome the Mono applications that Novell has been busy putting inside MeeGo [1, 2, 3]. SUSE MeeGo is expected within a year, but it is not clear what will happen to SUSE when Novell goes to auction. Perhaps it will be sold as a separate asset.



Novell have today announced their intention to release SUSE MeeGo as a fully supported netbook operating system. Novell expects their new OS, which is built on the codestream from the MeeGO Project established by a collaboration between Intel and Nokia, to be pre-installed on a wide variety of devices from OEMS in the next twelve months.

[...]

As you may be aware, SUSE MeeGo actually builds on an already longstanding relationship between Novell and Intel, which initially encouraged OEMs and ODMs to adopt Moblin. That initial effort was met with reasonable success with partners including Samsung and MSI having already shipped netbooks and other mobile devices with Moblin on board. Here’s hoping they can go even further with MeeGo, a project we at Linux User & Developer have high hopes for during the next round of technology and design refreshes.


Samsung is mentioned there too. More on SUSE MeeGo (somewhat negative):

Even so, a bum note sounds when you start to bolt onto that open source, free software model a commercially developed version of Linux for netbooks. The thought was prompted by the arrival of a press release this morning from Novell, announcing that: "it will release SUSE(R) MeeGo as a fully supported operating system for netbooks."

Novell carries on: "SUSE MeeGo is built on the codestream from the MeeGo Project, the new Linux-based operating system established by Intel and Nokia".


As The Register points out, Novell was also working closely with Moblin.

Novell will put MeeGo on top of SUSE Linux, and push it out to notebook and netbook manufacturers as an alternative to desktop operating systems, just as it did with Moblin. So not a radical change, really.


More new coverage of SUSE MeeGo can be found in:



Here is an interview with Novell's Markus Rex. He has just told the Asian press about Mono software in MeeGo (he calls that ".NET applications"):

Novell also has an initiative called Mono, which allows developers to run .NET applications on Linux and the iPhone. Mono is also included in MeeGo so developers can create .NET applications for MeeGo in a seamless fashion.


Isn't that just wonderful? Now we can all use .NET even on GNU/Linux. And Microsoft wants to claim a share of the money earned (MeeGo includes Banshee, which falls outside the MCP).

Microsoft/Novell may be trying to get a grip on MeeGo. One can ignore or actually do something about it. Groklaw has raised this MeeGo issue, but it didn't do enough to counter this. The last time it tried, Mono bullies attacked Groklaw [1, 2]. Shooting the messenger much?

A year ago we wrote about Novell moving some of is SUSE workforce to Taiwan and today we see this materialising [1, 2].

US-based Novell on June 1 announced it will offer Suse MeeGo specifically for use in netbooks and other types of mobile devices and will establish an OpenLabs in Taiwan to cooperate with local makers to promote MeeGo and provide related R&D support.


Taiwan offshoring. June 1st. Also in the news on almost the very same day:



Here is the press release and BusinessWeek coverage that mentions patents.

Microsoft, which has worked with Taiwanese companies for 20-years, will license patents from its technology portfolio and share its software expertise with companies, academia and research institutes in Taiwan to develop connected devices and cloud data centers, the company said in a statement.


Taiwan is the home of HTC, which Microsoft recently extorted with no disclosure of actual patents. BusinessWeek has another interesting new article:

Manufacturers whose phones are powered by Google's (GOOG) Android software have been hit hard by patent battles. (Google itself has not been sued.) Android handsets accounted for 28 percent of U.S. smartphone sales in the first quarter, vs. Apple's 21 percent, according to NPD Group. Apple has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, saying several HTC Android phones infringe on its patents. It is also suing HTC in federal court in Delaware. Both companies declined to comment.

Licensing fees now represent less than 10 percent of smartphones' production costs. Yet one Android handset maker has already budgeted for its patent royalty payments to double next year, says an executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. One beneficiary may be Microsoft, which has blanketed the industry with letters demanding royalties for technologies such as touchscreen menus.


This suggests that Microsoft used "touchscreen menus" as one of the patents. Does that apply to HTC?

Earlier on we also mentioned Tuxera, which currently helps Microsoft tax both Android and Linux, according to a new press release. There are mostly negative comments regarding this press release which we mentioned the other day.

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025