The 'War of Words' Will End When GPLv3 is Here
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2007-06-07 00:50:24 UTC
- Modified: 2007-06-07 00:50:24 UTC
Among the interesting writeups there are also the perspectives of Windows professionals. Even
them are willing to admit that
Microsoft's new strategy is motivated by fear and desperation.
Denial. Open source? Never heard of it. Why don't you come back when you folks are actually making some money?
Anger. What do you mean Linux and Apache are stealing market share from the low end of the server market? That's our business!
Bargaining. OK, here's a thought: Maybe Linux and Apache are taking share on the low-end. But as long as Windows Server and Microsoft IIS continue to dominate the Fortune 500, we won't have any problems.
Depression. What? They're in the data center now? But...we offer so much more functionality than the open-source solutions! Can't people see that?
Acceptance...
This leads to the conslusion that a War of Words has become the last resort. SCO tried this, but see where
they ended up.
It's been a while since I mentioned the SCO Group on this blog, largely since it stopped shouting its mouth off about its legal claims and its various court cases are slowly winding their way towards conclusion.
Two recent headlines predict a patent war, but one
also acknowledges the fact that staying out of court is the better choice to Microsoft.
Microsoft's move is seen as a FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) strategy to force open source users into a licensing deal with the software giant or even migrating to a Microsoft platform, Haque said.
With or without the courts, the days of FUD are numbered. GPLv3 is coming and it
spells doom to the idea of using patents as an anti-Linux weapon. Again, it is worth emphasising that GPLv3 is not just about patent-related clauses, which are just one type of amendment among several.
Matt Aslett appears to be wondering what the GPLv3 is mainly for, just as we did. It's about a variety of things, so it
cannot be characterised as a vendetta targetting Microsoft.
Comments
Shane Coyle
2007-06-07 05:25:57
like if Novell includes GPLv3 code in SUSE (if Microsoft allows them to), and if a coupon gets cashed in after GPLv3 is in SUSE, and if it's proven that the coupons are equivalent to distributing...
Shane Coyle
2007-06-07 05:49:00
For instance, Novell confirms that OOO is covered by their right-to-use license for their customers, so they wouldn't touch that under GPL3, but say K3B (or whatever) for instance isn't affected by the MS covenant not to sue that Novell is paying royalties for - if Novell includes that under GPLv3 does it have any impact on their MS deal since there is no protection for that to pass on?
Can Novell and Xandros cherry-pick GPLv3 projects that won't interfere with their discriminatory patent license? I need a lawyer to explain...