Bonum Certa Men Certa

With Novell's Deal, Microsoft is Already Bound by GPLv3

Microsoft insists that it has no involvement with GPLv3, but not everyone agrees. The following discussions, for example, contradict a previous analysis from a seemingly-isolated party.

According to the GPLv3 lawyers, they're [Microsoft] "procuring the distribution of" GPL'd software, and that requires permission from the copyright holder. So Microsoft are either distributing under the permissions which the GPL grants them, or they are violating copyright.


As always, the media only covers the arguments which defend Microsoft's side. Why is this not surprising? The following new article separates GPLv3 lies from facts.

In an email to me last month, Linus Torvalds, who has been portrayed in the media as GPLv3's main opponent, describes the language that he and other use on the Linux kernel mailing list as "blunt, to the point, and not very polite." When journalists quote pieces of it, he notes, often "the context of that language is then lost entirely" -- and he adds that "it's not just the text of the thread itself that is the context; the context is also how technical people discussing things amongst each other is in itself a very different context than a trade magazine article."

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