Cracks in the Linux world

Summary: A quick overview which includes news about companies that willingly pay Microsoft for Linux

PATENT TAX on Linux was conceived a long time ago at Microsoft (see the Halloween Memos for example). But it was Novell which revolutionised the concept by making a consensual deal that helped Microsoft achieve just what it had sought all those years. In later years we saw smaller companies doing the same thing. One of them was Tuxera, which is now polluting GENIVI with its Microsoft patent tax. Well, its announcement characterises this differently:

Tuxera, a provider of Windows and Mac compatible file systems for Android, Linux and other platforms, announced it has become an Associate Member of the GENIVI alliance.

All that Tuxera does is add Microsoft patent tax to Linux-based platforms, just as SUSE provides Microsoft-taxed equivalents/alternatives for platforms such as RHEL. Over at IDG there is a new whitewashing piece going under the headline "new Novell", which just like "new Microsoft" is an attempt to separate a dubious past from the present and future. Quoting the introduction:

Novell, which was acquired by The Attachmate Group in April, wants to regain its status as an IT icon and will try to do so by focusing its efforts on its core assets and rebuilding relationships with its huge installed base. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Novell President Bob Flynn and VP of Product Management and Marketing Eric Varness for a briefing on their rebuilding plans.

So far, Attachmate has let a lot of Novell just rot. We gave many examples to show this.

Products were rendered dead, some got neglected to the point of no mention in the press, and the only new Novelldemo videos are about products that are officially deal (it has just come up with 6 more Vibe videos like this one). A separate question is, what will it be with SUSE, which is now sponsored by Microsoft? We'll touch on that in a separate post.

We realise that Novell is a boring subject to many, especially at this stage. But here in this Web site we cover issues that are important, not issues that necessarily attract traffic. Novell is still a major problem and we stay true to our original goals. ⬆