“Microsoft and LG have been partners since 2004.”

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2623312779.html

Well, well, well. The pieces are slowly falling into place, but what about Samsung and Fuji-Xerox?

“Under the third version of the General Public License, expected to be published in final form this month by the Free Software Foundation, all such deals that were not inked by March 28 are forbidden. As a result, it would appear that Xandros will not be allowed to distribute open source code licensed under GPLv3 because of its relationship with Microsoft. Typaldos [Xandros CEO] said he’s not concerned. “If you are a businessperson, you can’t worry about every eventuality.”

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199901347

So, maybe business prospects are not truly a priority here.

Who owns Xandros?

Linux Global Partners provided the initial equity financing for Xandros. Other stockholders include Corel Corporation and vested employees.

“By putting a framework in place to share intellectual property, ….” There is no “sharing” happening today. A quick search of the USPTO database reveals the number of patents with “assignee name” of Xandros: ZERO. The number of patents with an “assignee name” of Microsoft: 6776. The number of patents with an “assignee name” of Corel (one of Xandros investors): 40. It might be interesting to know what rights Xandros had to Corel patents, and what rights they may have just cross licensed, but that’s Corel’s problem.

Thanks for the information, I’ll update once I can confirm/deny… it still doesn’t say Corel didn’t invest in them, just where they descend from. MS invests in many spinoffs of themselves…

“Xandros originally came from the acquisition of the former Corel Linux Business Division by a group of investors called Linux Global Partners. That took place in 2001…”