03.19.07
Posted in Action, Boycott Novell, Deals, Deception, FSF, FUD, Novell, Patent Covenant at 7:36 pm by Shane Coyle
Recently, we noted that Novell’s Justin Steinman had asserted that their Microsoft agreement is backed by 80-85% of the open source community.
During that interview, Steinman also made statements regarding Novell’s "significant" financial support of the Free Software Foundation and their intention to work with the drafters of the next version, "helping develop a version of the GPL that enables that (Microsoft) agreement to continue".
Well, those comments didn’t sit well with many, including Pamela Jones of Groklaw. PJ contacted Peter Brown at the FSF for a reaction, and well, it seems that Mr Steinman is working off of old, if not inaccurate, data:
But, what matters is, is it true? Has Novell bought FSF into going along with the Novell-Microsoft patent agreement? I asked Peter Brown of FSF for a reaction and here is his statement:
Novell last gave funds to the FSF in October 2005, when they donated $5K as part of FSF Corporate Patron program. Since their deal with Microsoft was announced we have not asked them to renew as a patron, nor would we. Novell is not “a significant financial contributor to the Free Software Foundation”, but what’s a little exaggeration compared to their deal with Microsoft?
We remain determined to make sure that GPLv3 does not permit deals of this kind. We are now studying how to achieve this without causing unintended trouble for other industry practices.
You can verify it for yourself by going to the FSF’s list of corporate patrons. Do you see Novell on the list on that page? No, you don’t. Because they aren’t a corporate patron currently.
Here’s what I know: even if Novell gave FSF $5 million, it couldn’t get what it wants. Some people are not for sale. Marketing guys might not get that concept. But there you are. Now for my request…
PJ’s request is simple, and is a sentiment echoed here at this site often: Microvell, give us the details. Until Novell makes the details of their patent covenant public, they cannot and will not be trusted nor fully embraced by the Free Software community. Instead, they can embrace Microsoft in their attempts to proprietize Free Software and cartelize the software industry.
Someone should tell Novell’s management what the steps after embrace are when dealing with Microsoft.
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Posted in Antitrust, Deception, Microsoft, NetWare, Novell, Windows at 2:21 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The relationship between Novell and Microsoft has never been a healthy one. Some weeks ago we mentioned the newly-leaked memos, extracted through Comes vs. Microsoft (class action at Iowa and the most recent antitrust case).
What will you get out of a little bit of browsing through thousands of document which expose Microsoft’s dirty tricks? Well, for one, Novell’s involvement leads to some interesting finds. So, let us dive in and explore the relationship between Microsoft and Novell in the last decade, shall we?
In some of the following memos, Novell argued that Microsoft had refused to fix bugs and even hid/excluded necessary files, APIs, and documentation. I would like to thank ‘Doug Mentohl’ for extracting the text from the scanned exhibits, beginning with this one:
Novell Confidential No 6665
Product and Price Change Notification
Attached a copy of the standard business and financial plans.
Originator: John Bodine Ext: 2.7082 Mailstop: ORM D-167
Type of change
X Other Patch Disk
FCS Date 7/10/95
[...]
Patch Disk for WordPerfect and PerfectOffice
The Windowes Product Marketing team, in conjunction with developement has decided to produce a and distribute a “patch” disk for both PerfectOffice and WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows. To reiterate, the reason we have decided to produce a patch is to address two main concerns:
1) Win95 compatibility
2) High priority bugs
It should be noted that these bugs, for the most part, are not problems with our software (the Win95 bugs are problems we addressed with Microsoft which they refused to fix). In both cases, the patch will be limited to one diskette.
These patch disks provide updates to WordPerfect 6.1, Presentations 3.0, and the PerfectOffice 3.0 Desktop Application Director (in the PexfectFit directory). The patch disks address key complaints that technical services and large accounts are currently receiving, such as memory leaks, Support of DOS in a network environment (DuPont, 100,000 users), ODMA problems, temp files eating up hard disk space, problems with styles, DDE link problems, and printing problems with Presentations.
In addition some known problems with running PerfectOffice 3.0 on Windows 95 have been addressed such as prompting for network ID when opened, bad title bar display, Show Me problems with Coaches, and Grammatik GPF’s.
The time line for completion of the patch disks are as follows:
6/27 – Gold master candidate released to testing-testing continues throughout weekend
7/5 – First Article candidate released to MFG.
7/6 – Manufacturing to begin duplicating disks
The disks will be available for download off our Novell home page and over our electronic bulletin board services. The disk will also be available directly, via our 800 numbers. The disks are sent out free of charge.
[...]
Tota cost for this project: $11,500.00
An example of technical sabotage and missing documentation can IBM has been referring to can be found here.
From: Richard Jones
To : Internet : yvesm@microsoft.com
Date: 7/21/95 9:48am
subject: A couple of issues
Hi Yves,
I wanted to check that you received our Alpha 11 CD early last week. I checked with our Beta administrator and it was sent to John Ludwig.
I have one issue that was escalated to me by our messaging group concerning MAPI. Here is the message:
“My MAPI service providers that used to work in the M7 time frame (January beta) no longer seem to work. Can we get documentation on the changes that have been made to the SPls (especially transport and address book) since M7.
Thanks,
Bruce Greerublatt”
Bruce had sent this request almost a month ago to NOVSUP and has received no response. Could you help us out please?
If there are any issues you need resolved with us, please let us know.
BTW: any more news on us getting a beta copy of “Maple’?
Thanks,
Richard Jones
Here is Novell’s plea for missing header files.
Below is the text of 2 messages sent previously regarding header files and libraries for implementing a Windows 95 Password Provider. To date, we have had no response, but we need this information. Can someone please respond with the information we need?
[...]
We have the 950 DDK, and in the network.doc file, located on that CD, these same constants are mentioned, as are the API’s we need to implement: PPGetPasswordStatusa and PPChangePassword.
[...]
In short, we have everything but the headers and libraries to actually implement this functionality. If the constants and API’s have been removed, why are they so well documented? Also, if they have been removed, how do we integrated password changes with Windows 95.
These patterns and their intent can be summed up by once again quoting Jim Allchin, a senior Microsoft manager.
[Allchin:] We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger… If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger.
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03.17.07
Posted in Marketing, Microsoft, Novell at 9:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Guess who’s coming to this year’s BrainShare?
Microsoft will serve as a platinum sponsor of BrainShare 2007, said Bruce Lowry, a Novell spokesperson. But Sun won’t be exhibiting at BrainShare at all.
This ought to remind us of other conferences, including Linux conferences, where Microsoft steals the thunder. Novell’s invitation of its new ‘friend’ and ally only fuels anger among those who are calling Novell the “Bad Guy of the Linux community”, including Editors.
That was what ran through my mind this week when I saw this headline from Computer Business Review: “HSBC Signs Up for Microsoft’s SUSE Linux Support.” The double-take took a bit to settle in, because for a second I wondered if Microsoft actually owned SUSE Linux now.
[...]
Today, Novell is the Bad Guy of the Linux community, a mantle it took from Red Hat the day it announced its partnership arrangement with Microsoft.
Novell has not only taken this burden off Red Hat’s back. Even Linspire, which works more closely with Canonical these days, suddenly seems very decent, despite their ‘funny business’ with rent-for-rant Benderle (sic).
We should have learned from the past that giving the other side a voice, as Novell mistakenly did, is a recipe for trouble. Consider some of the following quotes:
“I saw what appeared to be a word-for-word copy of about every third line of code in the central module of the Linux kernel” — Rob Enderle
“Many Linux supporters are a bunch of potty-mouthed malcontents. Enterprises are better off staying away from Linux and open source” — Rob Enderle
“Linux is being widely used on the desktop in the third world, where applications are limited and labor is inexpensive…” — Rob Enderle
“I have a hard time seeing the Zealots as any different from terrorist… I strongly believe that if September 11 showed us anything, it was that zealots” — Rob Enderle
“I started writing about Linux because I was told I couldn’t and the more people told me I couldn’t, and particularly when they said ‘or else,’ the more the Linux dirty laundry became attractive to me” — Rob Enderle
Novell should have known better. Microsoft and its shills play hardball. At present, Microsoft uses every chance, including Novell/Linux deals, to spread disseminate and spread fear. We have covered many stories which prove this.
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Posted in GPL, Law, Novell, OpenSUSE at 9:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Several Web sites have been reporting the same news and other than speculations in the comments section, there are no answers to one puzzling question. Novell has just released a Opensuse ‘fix’ with a modified licence. No details are given as to which package is affected and how.
For a long time I have been subscribed to 4 mailing lists from Novell/SuSE, yet I fail to find as an answer there. Here is one perspective which fully aligns with mine:
Open Source, but Closed Communication
Christoph Thiel, on the release of slightly changed openSUSE 10.2 ISO images: “The reason for putting out those updated ISOs is a license issue, which had to be addressed.”
What license issue? For what package? I don’t care whether the issue was already discussed on a ML or not, but this is not an announcement to expect from an Open Source product!
Novell is not innocent, but I’m afraid the SuSE guys were already unwilling to communicate prior to the acquisition, so maybe they deserved it.
Are any of our readers aware of the changes? If so, can you please shed some light on this?
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03.16.07
Posted in GNU/Linux, GPL, Law, Microsoft, Novell at 11:36 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Free Software Magazine raises an interesting question which probably results from speculations about acquisition costs. Could Microsoft ever pay to hijack Novell’s agenda, rather than just control and abuse it by proxy?
Did Novell really believe the agreement would result in increased Linux revenue (to what it would have been)? Do they really think interoperability with Microsoft will be improved? Or have I simply got the wrong end of the stick? The person of wisdom whom I asked put a different perspective on it.
If Microsoft ever truly considered a hostile/friendly takeover, would it inherit GNU/Linux software? Despite the existence of so-called ‘peacemakers’, to whom disregard of the GPL seems acceptable, the deal is unlikely to last, at least in its present form. OSTG has a new article on the Novell deal and its effect on GPLv3 (namely the continuing delays). It is becoming apparent that Novell will see screws tightened on software which it relies on.
Although the FSF soon judged the agreement technically legal under the current version of the GPL, Eben Moglen, general counsel for the FSF and the principal legal architect for GPLv3, is quoted as saying, “Our strategy is to use GPLv3 against the deal.”
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Posted in Deals, Microsoft, Novell at 10:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The following two articles tell a story. The developers and the customers share a certain pain.
Novell deal yields dividends – for Red Hat
A “sizeable number” of developers have jumped ship from Novell to Red Hat, according to Scott Crenshaw, the senior director for product management and marketing at Red Hat.
Novell users say Linux transitions successful
As Novell kicks off its annual user conference, customers are enthusiastic about their transitions from the legacy NetWare operating system to Linux. There’s discord, however, among Novell users regarding the company’s controversial technology pact with Microsoft.
Also today: CEBIT – Novell to manage Windows desktops with Zenworks
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Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, GPL, Interview, Marketing, Microsoft, Novell, Patent Covenant at 10:33 am by Shane Coyle
That’s the assertion being made by Novell’s Justin Steinman, spinner extraordinaire for this deal so far.
Novell continues to paint their patent covenant with Microsoft as "simply a covenant not to sue", and not a patent cross-license (they just agreed to pay Microsoft per-unit royalties on open source software that they ship for protection from infringement suits, it’s completely different, really).
Question: Many in the broader open source community have accused Novell of “selling out” by collaborating with Microsoft. How do you respond to that?
Steinman: There are a lot of people who do believe that Microsoft is the devil. And that’s an opinion that’s prevalent in the open source community. However, I think it’s an opinion that’s prevalent in the minority — and it’s a vocal minority. I think the vast majority, and I’d quantify that at about 80 percent to 85 percent, of the open source community actually supports this deal. The reason I think that the community supports the deal is that it supports the adoption of open source in the enterprise.
Let’s go back and look at some of the success we’ve had in the past 90 days with Microsoft. We signed a huge deal with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart had been messing around with Linux a little bit, on fewer than 50 servers in its environment. Wal-Mart also has a very strong relationship with Microsoft. When Wal-Mart heard that Microsoft had endorsed … SuSE Linux Enterprise, Wal-Mart decided it was time to stop messing around and get serious with Linux. They added a large number — in the tens of thousands — of SuSE Linux Enterprise servers. These are not Red Hat takeaways; these are not replacing anything. … These are new Linux. So the vast majority of the community is excited about this because they’re seeing new Linux deployments. Net new.
Now if I’m in the minority and I don’t like this — if I’m Bruce Perens — then I’m going to be vocal about it. I’m going to be angry and I’m going to make a lot of noise. But if I’m in the large majority, why do I need to stick my nose in someone else’s fight? I’d rather just go on doing my job. If I like the Microsoft agreement, there’s no real benefit to me, personally, in coming out and saying that. If I did, the vocal minority is going to attack me, too. It’s easier just to keep quiet. That’s why the community perception has been misconstrued by the media at large.
Slightly more interesting is Steinman’s assertion that “Novell is committed to our Microsoft agreement, and we’re committed to helping develop a version of the GPL that enables that agreement to continue”, noting that Novell is part of the vendors committee B in the drafting process, and Novell lawyers are actively involved in the drafting process.
Novell has already committed to being GPL3 compliant and promised to alter the MS deal if necessary, rather than lose their rights to GNU but not Linux.
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Posted in Novell, Servers at 3:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Novell has just struck a deal with another bank.
Postbank will replace all of BHW Holding’s Microsoft* Windows* 2000 servers with Novell Open Enterprise Server in 2007. In addition, 3,500 BHW office staff and 4,500 field staff will switch to Novell GroupWise from Microsoft Exchange, joining 9,000 Postbank employees who are using GroupWise for secure e-mail and collaboration.
The press release, which this time for a change does not involve Microsoft, contains no word on “intellectual property”. Then again, the solution deployed isn’t purely Linux-based, if at all. Remember that Novell claims the Microsoft deal also covers intellectual property in its proprietary products.
Novell has issued two more press releases:
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