Comments on: The Role of Novell et al in Stifling EC Rulings Stresses GPLv3′s Need http://techrights.org/2008/05/11/stifling-ec-ruling/ Free Software Sentry – watching and reporting maneuvers of those threatened by software freedom Fri, 25 Nov 2016 09:41:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.14 By: Roy Schestowitz http://techrights.org/2008/05/11/stifling-ec-ruling/comment-page-1/#comment-9525 Sun, 11 May 2008 16:40:17 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/05/11/stifling-ec-ruling/#comment-9525 Sun too appears to have played a secondary role. It remains to be seen what secret arrangements Sun and Microsoft have had.

At the end of the day, these are all marriages of convenience (or so they think at the start), but the children (or baby gnus… or baby penguins) aren’t too happy.

]]> By: shane coyle http://techrights.org/2008/05/11/stifling-ec-ruling/comment-page-1/#comment-9524 Sun, 11 May 2008 16:11:34 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/05/11/stifling-ec-ruling/#comment-9524 Yeah, it seemed so obvious back then, good to see the ‘mainstream’ media is beginning to see the true point of the deal. As was cited in that previous article, it was not the first time MS exhibited this behavior – cutting individual deals with vendors to allay EC rulings, including Novell, in the past.

Why would Novell have approached MS to pay for access to the very same info that the EC was already in the process of forcing MS to disclose, if not to legitimize MS’ claims that the “IP” in question is indeed innovative and worthy of royalties, rather than the standard interface information that it is. And, for their trouble, Novell gets a few hundred million dollars to stave off the barbarians at the gate (“Novell Troubles” Header).

In a way, the end-run around the GPL was a red-herring, or perhaps an entertaining side-effect, but I’m sure Ballmer enjoyed seeing just how far Novell would eviscerate themselves for less than a week of Microsoft profit, all the same.

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