Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, and Microsoft Patents

Novellsoft



Remember Red Hat's response and Sun's immediate reaction to Microsoft's patent-fueled threats? This goes back to May 2007. Novell seems to benefit a lot from that, all at the expense of everybody else.

”It is worrying to find that Matt Asay plays somewhat of an apologist’s role for Novell right now.“It is worrying to find that Matt Asay plays somewhat of an apologist's role for Novell right now. He is still a de facto voice for the parts of the open source world. Novell seems to have asked him to be gentle and kind. He did this with Microsoft too, having defended Bill Hilf around the time of Microsoft/OSI discussions began and got heated. Microsoft eventually made it into the OSI, which has been damaging since.

So, what is this 'apologism' that we speak of? Here is one example.

In last week's podcast from Register, Matt said:

...I saw something where they say, you know, this probably isn’t due to Novell massaging its numbers around Linux, which is what Dana Blakenhorn at ZDNet had claimed, I mean, I can tell you absolutely for a verifiable fact for that Novell does do that, but then again everybody does that. So… I’ve.. I’ve got the sales guys at Novell telling me that, that they do this, but it just doesn’t matter, I… I suspect that this is a tech… like a technicality that Novell has run afoul of and not a big deal, but maybe I’ll.. maybe we’ll be wrong, maybe I’ll be wrong, we should see.

Let's not be too pedantic, but Novell also twisted his arm around that time, so instead of writing (as opposed to talking) about Novell's abysmal performance and results, he concentrated on their spin. What's more, Novell's Bruce Lowry chimes in to thank Matt, having requested that he should be gentler with Novell. He then posts a comment in Matt's CNET blog:

by blowry 13 December 2007 18:02 Hi Matt. Thanks for picking up on the earnings announcement.


To give a newer example, Matt Asay opines that Sun Microsystems pulled a similar stunt to that of Novell back in 2004, but he is wrong to suggest such a comparison. Here's where it all starts.

Novell has taken its share of heat for its Microsoft lovefest that sought to privilege SUSE Linux as patent-protected while everyone else's Linux was ripe for a lawsuit...or 20.


Asay argues that Sun left OpenOffice.org users exposed to legal action, but he neglects to mention the differences between Star/OpenOffice and code that is shared among many companies and non-profits (communities). Novell hasn't real ownership or exclusive control of the code which it sent over for the hounds to chew (speaking of which, Novell wants OpenOffice for itself). Additionally, StarOffice contains some additional function which may or may not justify Sun's deed. This makes it very different from Novell's situation.

In other news, Sun's plan is to charge for support, so the idea of charging premium for StarOffice seems to have become secondary (Google Pack contains it for free anyway).

Sun Microsystems on Monday plans to announce that it will provide support for the OpenOffice.org productivity software suite, citing a wave of momentum behind the open-source project.


Moving on to Red Hat's story, the release of their desktop product was recently delayed again. The delays are due to Microsoft's codec battle, which continues to serve as a blackmailing tool for patent deals.

Here's what Beranger says about it.

I hope Red Hat won't join Linspire and Turbolinux in paying for Windows Media 10 Codecs, eh? Adding "worldwide-legal" support for MP3 is much simpler, and there are even 2 choices: Fluendo's free decodec, or an upfront one-time payment of US$ 50,000 (which is what Mandriva seems to have done a couple of years ago).


That's why standards and open/free technology is needed. Proprietary codecs are used against Free software by its rivals. Need it be mentioned that Apple and Nokia intercepted Ogg as a candidate for inclusion in HTML 5? Perhaps they just foresee a future of DRM-laden and patent-encumbered formats that bring revenue. They force customer to buy back their digital rights (purchasing licence to access content rather than own it). But that's another story which falls beyond the scope of this Web site.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Someone Should Remind Microsoft Lunduke That Microsoft Hires Many Sexual Criminals and Pedophiles as Well
Microsoft Lunduke on an "expedition" to find one or more perverts, then generalise to everyone in the "community"
Cash Machines (ATMs) Make Mistakes and They're Proprietary Software
Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
"I am no MS shill."
Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
 
Links 29/07/2025: Bad Climate and "Fair Software Licensing" Blasts Microsoft
Links for the day
Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
We Cover Topics Other Sites Are Too Afraid to Cover (Even When They Know the Facts)
It's not that they doubt the truth, they just realise there may be consequences for talking about it
They Try to Tell Us the Free Software Foundation Inc is Dying, But Its Revenue Doubled Since the Dot-Com Bubble Burst
Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
It's About the Cost of Workers, Not the Fictional Skills Shortage (That Does Not Exist, the Media Spreads False and Sometimes Self-Fulfilling Narratives)
This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
Links for the day
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles