Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell Makes Its Relationship With MeeGo More Formal (and Filled With the Mono Patent Trap), Tuxera Spreads exFAT Patent Trap



Summary: Two post-Memorial Day announcements signify the eternal attempts to spread Microsoft's patent tax to Linux through allies

NOVELL'S days may be numbered, but this company is causing enormous damage, as we have already shown twice just today [1, 2]. Concerns remain that Novell's continued pursuit of more and more software patents will actually end up being used against GNU/Linux:

Once again, the buzz has grown surrounding rumors that Novell may soon be snapped up in a buyout. As many as 20 companies may have registered bids for the company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Matt Asay notes that an auction of the company could become a patent troll bonanza, and I have to agree. Let's remember that Novell is no spring chicken. It owns lots of patents and lots of legacy applications. Overall, it would not be good to see Novell bought out, partly because it's one of the few U.S.-based public companies focused primarily on open source.


It's not just Novell's software patents that are an imminent threat; Novell is also spreading Microsoft's DNA all over the GNU/Linux world, probably consciously (by selection of strategy/employees). Here is a new article which mentions MeeGo adding Novell to its ranks. Big mistake.

Since the 1.0 release, MeeGo has added Novell, Telefónica, UI design company Movial, netbook software provider DeviceVM and Chinese companies CS2C and Red Flag Software to its list of support partners.


Last week we began showing that Novell had been contaminating MeeGo using Mono [1, 2, 3]. Maybe they are trying to 'take over' the project, just like they did with Moblin at one stage (the earlier days). What does Nokia have this say about it? This could also lead to the suspicion that maybe -- just maybe -- Nokia or Intel will attempt buy Novell. "Novell's sales down as it prepares to sell up," says the headline of this new article (more reports suggest a buyout).

Quarterly revenues fell 6% for troubled systems vendor, reported to be in talks with potential acquirers

Sales at systems and software vendor Novell fell 6% to $204 million in the second quarter of its fiscal year, despite managing to increase its profits for the second quarter running.


We now learn from Novell that its approach towards MeeGo is not a casual relationship. Here is the press release [1, 2] which is titled "Novell Announces Support for MeeGo" and here is some early coverage:

Keen observers might have noticed that Novell's comments were curiously absent. Did I forget them? No, they told me that they had something in the works, and I needed to stand by. Today, the question of Novell's continued support of MeeGo was answered with an announcement from Computex in Taiwan that they will release SUSE MeeGo "as a fully supported operating system for netbooks."


It's funny that they hardly mention Mono, which is controversial for good reasons. Here is another article:

Novell wants Meego to ship pre-installed on a variety of devices from OEMs within a year. SUSE Meego is based on the Meego specification defined by Intel and Nokia and is designed for next-generation netbooks and other mobile devices. It builds on the work done on the Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo mobile operating systems.


How is the inclusion of Mono being arranged? MeeGo contains Banshee, which Microsoft explicitly excluded from the MCP. Novell is being used by Microsoft to hurt GNU/Linux projects, tainting them with Microsoft patent tax. Another familiar example would be Tuxera. Microsoft uses them (maybe like it uses Likewise) to inject problems and act as a barrier to entry through software patents, universally. Here is Tuxera's new press release:

Tuxera exFAT Now Available for Android and Linux



Tuxera, the leading designer of Windows-compatible file systems for Linux, Mac, and other platforms, today announced the release of Tuxera exFAT for Android and other Linux systems. Developed using technical documentation provided by Microsoft Corp., Tuxera exFAT provides outstanding performance and stability, and meets the latest SDXC memory card standards.


exFAT is a toxic patent trap (poison as a standard) that they hope to put inside Google's Android and inside GNU/Linux. And meanwhile, Microsoft is pushing hard using its market share on the desktop to spread exFAT everywhere.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day