06.16.07
Posted in Antitrust, Courtroom, GNU/Linux, Google, GPL, Microsoft, Search, Vista at 5:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Pressure is now being applied to an aggressive Microsoft from several different direction. To those of you who follow the news, this may not be a surprise, but the Linux Foundation talks about taking action in a counter attack against Microsoft and its plan. This is not their first rebuttal.
Linux is the best-known variant of so-called open source software — software that is freely available to the public to be used, revised and shared. Linux suppliers earn money selling improvements and technical services. By contrast, Microsoft charges for software and opposes freely sharing its code.
This comes at a time when Microsoft faces increasing pressure from many different directions, including its value. Have a look at this article from SmartMoney:
Long seen as a thorn in Microsoft’s side, Linux is an operating system that is based on the ideas of freedom and collaboration. It opens up its code so programmers can add or change applications to suit their needs. By doing so, open source offers a level of customization that proprietary software like Windows, which keeps its code locked up, never had.
The third version of the GPL is another cause for a headache. The following article explains why it may force Microsoft’s core business to evolve as it gives place to Free software.
In my analysis, Microsoft will move away from selling technology in favor of going all SaaS (look for the Live… brand on everything from entertainment software to really cool new B2C stuff to Longhorn). The next decade for Microsoft is all about the experience according to Ray Ozzie.
The last emerging pain are Google and the Justice Department, which have returned to looking to Microsoft’s business practices.
Google argues that this feature violates a consent decree that monitors Microsoft’s behavior as part of its settlement with the U.S. government, which had accused the company of using its monopoly to harm competition by incorporating new features into its operating system at no additional costs.
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06.15.07
Posted in Finance, Marketing, Novell at 8:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Here is the latest in a series which began a month ago.
I am still in the process of rebuilding my main PC after a major hardware crash (hard drive and CD-ROM). Having not followed the news yesterday (and part of Thursday), the Web site may require some catching up over the weekend. We apologise for a high pace in advance. In the mean time, here is the weekly dump of stories that glorify Novell rather than criticise it.
The gentle side of Novell is shown in this writing about a staff member of theirs. A few days after I had spotted and saved it, I noticed that so did Novell’s PR, which even blogged about it.
Olds, who is one of the original architects of Novell’s eDirectory and currently heads up its Bandit project, has had the ramshackle tuba since high school when he found it sitting in his neighbor’s trash.
Novell gets in a bundle!
The SMB bundle is an all-in-one package of software, hardware and services especially designed to improve the email security and archiving capabilities of Novell GroupWise targeting small- and medium-size organizations with 100 or more email users.
Novell released a product which targets small businesses. There was a press release about it, and it made some waves.
“Small businesses are increasingly interested in Linux,” said Ray Boggs, vice president of Small/Medium Business Research at IDC.
Novell has also published some information about quality of support and it claims to have “the Best Linux Support in the World”. Registration is needed for viewing, so here is a peripheral page with the gist.
When it comes to Linux, support really matters. If you’re going to run your mission-critical applications on Linux, then you need a partner who will support you every step of the way.
The selfish deal with Microsoft has shown declining profits and led to some disappointment, but some more recent figures are a bit baffling. Rise in gross profits is shown here. After some analysts called NOVL a “strong sell”, someone begged to differ.
Analyst Kirk Materne of Banc of America Securities maintains his “buy” rating on Novell Inc. The target price is set to $8.50.
A few days ago, another podcast in support of Novell was published and advertised. It’s titled the ‘SUSE Linux Enterprise Quality Assurance’ Podcast.
Leaving Novell aside for a moment, a Windows site raves about a Xandros server just shortly after their deal with Microsoft:
Virtualization is one of the latest IT buzzwords. The benefits of virtualization include quicker and easier server deployment, fewer physical servers, easier management of heterogeneous environments, and—ultimately—cost savings. I spoke to Danny Essner, Director of Marketing for Xandros, about how Xandros Server Standard Edition 2 meets the market need for server virtualization
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06.14.07
Posted in Action, Deals, Free/Libre Software, Linspire, Microsoft, Ubuntu at 8:42 pm by Shane Coyle
Upon hearing about the Microsoft-Linspire deal ("MicroSpire" to keep our catchy merged-name theme going…) I was immediately reminded of the summation of the account on Helios’ blog when the Xandrosoft deal was announced, since E.S.R. just so happens to sit on Freespire’s board.
Yes, I brought this up in a comment earlier, but I think it needs some additional discussion, and apparently so do others.
Raymond has been an implacable foe of Microsoft; one incident which is touted as proof of this is an encounter with Microsoft’s Craig Mundie in an elevator. When Mundie asked him who he was, Raymond is reported to have said: “I am your worst nightmare.”
Given his background, I’d like to pose a query to Raymond: Now that Linspire has genuflected to the people in Redmond, will you do the honourable thing and quit the board of Freespire?
As does Sam, I wondered what Linspire’s capitulation will do to their chumminess with Canonical/Ubuntu going forward. Let’s watch for Mark Shuttleworth and Eric S Raymond’s official reactions in the coming days.
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Posted in Action, Deals, FUD, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Linspire, Microsoft, OpenOffice, Patents, Samba, SueMe at 9:23 am by Shane Coyle
It’s like "Sue Me First, Microsoft", but you get a Word Processor too.
Well, as I had quipped earlier, my ruthless attempt to be the Microsoft of tech boycotts has continued thanks to the spineless acts of Linspire: so, please welcome BoycottLinspire.com to the fold.
In preparing to create a new EDU-Nix Dual Mode CD for the upcoming school year, I’ve been playing around with the latest generation of the Linux-Live scripts, and decided that our SueMe Linux distribution would be a fun diversion for testing with. What I want to do is include many of the Free Software projects that Microsoft has been disparaging with patent infringement allegations, along with as much anti-FUD information as possible.
One of the running jokes within SueMe will be "disclosing your balance sheet liabilities", and I want to maintain a table on the SueMe homepage that indicates exactly what vague and intimidating allegations Microsoft has made against various components of SueMe:
| Included Software |
Alleged MS Patents Infringed |
| Linux Kernel |
42 |
| K Desktop Environment (GUI) |
65 |
| OpenOffice.org |
45 |
| Email |
15 |
| Wine, Samba, Others |
68 |
What we need are suggestions and submissions for articles and artwork in order to make SueMe the Anti-FUD distro, as well as any other suggestions or improvements that we can think of. There is a barely functional alpha version of the CD available now, and the sources and such are FTP-ing up to the site now, all in the download folder.
So, feel free to grab it all and hack away. And, if you want, feel Free to make a donation to the FSF or EFF in lieu of an interoperability tax. Hopefully, we can convince Microsoft to either abandon their FUD campaign or finally state with specificity the alleged infringements so that we may assess and address them on a case-by-case basis.
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Posted in FUD, Linspire, Microsoft, Patents, Xandros at 2:50 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
As we mentioned a couple of times in the past, not only does Microsoft collect royalties from Linux sales, but it also secretly extracts money from companies that use Free software.
I have just been told by a reliable source that one thing which had escaped the media is the fact that Microsoft quietly threatens with lawsuits. Could this explain the spineless (and self contradictory) acts of Linspire and Xandros? I am still looking for a reliable concrete reference that I can cite, but to anonymous quote the message which I received:
The one thing that is blindingly obvious to me about the Microsoft threats of patent lawsuits has gone all but unnoticed in the main stream media.
If is it true that Microsoft holds patents on the Linux OS that it can use to force compliance from Linux distros, then wouldn’t that mean that Microsoft is truly a monopoly where operating systems are concerned?
If it is truly a monopoly, we should again look into breaking up the company like the government wanted to do back in the 90′s.
I will update this entry if/when I have more information.
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06.13.07
Posted in Deals, FUD, Linspire, Microsoft, Patents at 10:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Oh, well. We saw that coming. Not much to be said. Same rubbish, different day.
Linspire Inc. on June 14 will announce an agreement to license VoIP, Windows Media, and TrueType font technology from Microsoft for use in its Linux distribution. Additionally, the deal includes protection for Linspire customers against possible violations of Microsoft patents by Linux, and other cooperative measures.
So, Linspire folks, how much did Microsoft pay you to join the ‘protection racket’ club? A Linspire tag has been added to the site and Shane might register an aptly-named domain. Lindows has just joined hands with Windows.
Addendum (20/06/2007):
It is worth adding Groklaw’s find from last night.
Linspire Admits No Patents Licensed to MS
“This is the same conceptual structure of a patent covenant for end users as found in the Novell and Xandros deals, and the design principle is respect for all of the licenses that are at play, including the GPL [GNU General Public License],” Kaefer said. “These patent covenants are foundational elements that allow us all to move forward.”.
However, Linspire did not provide any of its patent rights to Microsoft under the deal, given that it held very few such rights, he said, noting that Microsoft would happily talk to the company about such a license if that situation changes.
[PJ: Of course the GPL remark is poppycock. Respect for the GPL is certainly not a noticeable component of any of these deals, except perhaps by its absence.] – Peter Galli, Devsource
It’s all right here.
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Posted in Boycott Novell, Deals, Deception, FSF, GPL, Microsoft, Novell, Patent Covenant at 12:05 pm by Shane Coyle
In Novell’s recent 10-Q filing, which contains a very lucid explanation of the overall scope of the Microvell deal, it is mentioned that Novell does indeed get released from liability for patent infringement prior to the deal (with "certain exceptions"), and that Novell agrees to pay royalties – a minimum of $40M – on their open source software shipped under the agreement going forward in exchange for that release.
Under the Patent Cooperation Agreement, Microsoft agreed to covenant with our customers not to assert its patents against our customers for their use of our products and services for which we receive revenue directly or indirectly, with certain exceptions, while we agreed to covenant with Microsoft’s customers not to assert our patents against Microsoft’s customers for their use of Microsoft products and services for which Microsoft receives revenue directly or indirectly, with certain exceptions. In addition, we and Microsoft each irrevocably released the other party, and its customers, from any liability for patent infringement arising prior to November 2, 2006, with certain exceptions. Both we and Microsoft have payment obligations under the Patent Cooperation Agreement. Microsoft made an up-front net balancing payment to us of $108 million, and we will make ongoing payments to Microsoft totaling a minimum of $40 million over the five year term of the agreement based on a percentage of our Open Platform Solutions and Open Enterprise Server revenues.
Everyone dust off their GPLv2 and turn to Section 7…
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Posted in America, Asia, Formats, IBM, ISO, Microsoft, Novell, Open XML, OpenDocument, Xandros at 9:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
OpenDocument format (ODF) is going strong. There is some encouraging news that contrasts some recent setbacks. In Malaysia, for example, people seem to have taken a careful look at Sam Hiser’s excellent analysis which — to put it one way — explains why Xandors and Novell committed themselves to a route leading to insanity.
Mr. Alan Bryden said that ISO will not approve two standards in the same area and ISO has its own “consensus” process to ensure that. Into this consensus process, Malaysia should give input that ODF is the single standard Malaysia needs and the single standard ISO needs.
Recall what Malaysian representative/witnesses had to say several weeks ago.
In New York, the first steps have just been taken towards adoption of ODF. IBM has strong presence in this state, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.
The New York state politician backing a bill that would order the state to examine a switch to open document formats for official business said Friday that she is optimistic her bill will escape the fate of similar bills in five other states.
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