07.21.07
Posted in Deals, Finance, GNU/Linux, Interoperability, Microsoft, Novell, Patent Covenant, Patents at 1:54 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Does Novell still think that its deal was all about interoperability (as it repeatedly insists)? Microsoft begs to differ. It has explicitly said that the deal was about patents. Recall how much of this mess got started. It is very clear that Microsoft embraces to destroy and at the same time wishes to put a price tag on Linux, where that price is Microsoft’s gain, i.e. earnings from rival products. Here is a new take on Novell’s newly-found ‘love’:
Microsoft Sprang October Surprise on Novell
Ahh, it seems that Novell didn’t know until two weeks before its infamous deal with Microsoft was announced that there was a sine qua non patent component to the thing. The poor little innocent thought Microsoft was negotiating interoperability for the sake of interoperability until Microsoft had Novell salivating like Pavlov’s dogs and then Microsoft explained the fact of life. We have this tale from someone who was there and says it’s true.
At this stage, if Novell had some dignity, it would come out and confess that it is unhappy with the partnership. Microsoft’s latest betrayal aside, Novell has already lost some prominent employees. Wall Street was not pleased with the deal, either. Not in 2006 and not even in 2007.
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Posted in Deals, GNU/Linux, GPL, Interoperability, Linspire, Microsoft, Novell, OpenOffice, Red Hat, Xandros at 12:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Interoperability Does Not Require Deals, Which GPLv3 Annuls AnywayAre deals truly necessary in order to establish a convenient exchange of documents? Quite recently, Groklaw shrewdly pointed out that Red Hat already has interoperability. It didn’t require any deals to achieve this, but there is place for improvement, especially where Microsoft holds interoperability hostage.
As we stressed several times in the past, Novell is (at least in part) to blame for this. It opened the door to this type of practice while rudely (or selfishly) shutting some doors right in the EC‘s face.
Only yesterday, LinuxToday posted a cheeky blog item that sort of retaliates by sticking it right in Novell’s face. The headline is self explanatory: “Interoperability Without Patent Agreements. Really.”
Mark explained that Zenoss has kicked off the development process with the two ZenPacks (mentioned above) that will allow full interoperability with Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server. And no, they didn’t make a patent deal; they used Samba functionality. Imagine that.
In other news, Gnash has just announced its upgrade to GPLv3.
Gnash has now switched to the GPLv3 license, see http://gplv3.fsf.org for more info.
Another quick look at Palamida’s GPLv3 tracker reveals nice linear growth. The GPLv3 has been embraced by over 200 projects only 3 weeks after its release. To quote Mr. Radcliffe again, “I believe that the GPLv3 is a very valuable addition to FOSS licenses and solves many of the challenges faced by GPLv2. Companies distributing FOSS should consider it and companies using FOSS should be prepared, in most cases, to accept it”.
Are Linspire, Xandros, and Novell ready to accept it?
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