06.18.07
Posted in Deals, GNU/Linux, GPL, Microsoft, Red Hat, Windows at 2:10 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Things are looking great for Linux. Development pace is peaking everywhere, except Redmond.
Among some of the newest articles (e.g. one that heralds the arrival of Linux to many people’s desktops), there are several which talk about the deals and explain why these simply indicate that Microsoft needs to be part of the future, with or without Windows. Consider the following analysis from Linux Watch. It discusses the recent deals and closes with the following couple of paragraphs.
Red Hat’s wonderful Truth Happens video ends with the famous Mohandas Gandhi quote, “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” It’s exactly right.
To me, the Linux/Microsoft deals not only make sense, they show that we are in the last stage. Linux is winning, and Microsoft is acknowledging it. After all, if Microsoft didn’t have to deal with Linux as something like an equal, why would they bother to make agreements at all?
These feelings are echoed elsewhere as well. They would seem overly optimistic to some, but ambition has its merits. Either way, things do not look too encouraging for the company which, according to another source, is bound to lose its grip on a world of Windows. It tries to get a grip on the next best thing, which is Linux. Have a quick look at this short article/op-ed.
Some of the best analysis of the Microsoft/Linspire deal was written by Dennis Byron (Research 2.0) Should this deal eventually involve vouchers like the Novell deal, he says, what we might be looking at is Microsoft’s graceful exit from Windows (well, maybe not graceful and maybe not without milking it for a good decade, a la IBM and its mainframes).
What will happen with IP? Well, Microsoft ‘taxation’ on Linux sales is something which is bound to fail, simply because GPLv3 prohibits it. It works around the issues and its wide adoption seems like a matter of time, not viability. Have a look at what Bruce Byfield had to say.
In the longer term — say the next five years — GPLv3 will probably win out through attrition. If nothing else, as the discussion on TiVoization makes clear, the FSF cares strongly about the issues behind the provisions in the new version of the license while those who think like Torvalds, for all the animation with which he expresses himself, care relatively little. In the end, they would rather be coding. As more projects move to GPLv3, open source advocates will probably move with the rest of the community.
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Posted in America, Corel, Deception, Formats, Linspire, Microsoft, Novell, Office Suites, Open XML, OpenDocument, Xandros at 1:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
If you can’t earn support, then buy support
Here we go again. In the latest among a long series of deceitful moves, Microsoft pulls another trick in order to encourage acceptance of its lockin (formats monopoly).
At this point, we have three deals with Linux vendors that are in Microsoft’s pocket as far as document formats are concerned. Xandros, Novell, and Linspire seem committed to their binding contract. Corel could be considered here as well. It’s not about the quality of the format. Instead, it’s all about the money flow. Format monoculture is in fact a major part of these deals, which helps protect and strengthen Microsoft’s grip on the office suites market.
Here, however, is the latest. Now we have another Microsoft ‘pal’ making an appearance in the media. Nowhere does it say anything about affiliation. There is no disclosure. The discussion is at times warped from a technical one into a political one (we have seen that before), e.g.:
Finally, he said that many people were worsening the situation by confusing the ISO’s health and safety standards, which are often enforced by member countries as law, and technical specifications such as Open XML.
That’s the guy whom Microsoft paid to edit Wikipedia in Microsoft’s favour. He attends Microsoft’s events and drinks the kool-aid. He is essentially a Microsoft consultant and therefore not an “Open Standards advocate” as the article suggests. This could be yet another media manoeuvre, which is similar to many others that we regularly find.
It goes beyond the media however. Consider the fact that Microsoft employees are voting on behalf of Microsoft at the ISO. Isn’t ‘democracy’ a wonderful thing? We thought that Microsoft had “voted for choice”, according to its own press releases. Let’s just suppose Microsoft mind who it is that votes.
You might still recall the latest endeavour to get ODF support in the United States. People set their eyes on New York, but as it turns out Microsoft is now taking over the the NYS legislature, setting rules that are hostile toward open source.
Microsoft’s proposed change to state law would effectively render our current requirements for escrow and the ability for independent review of source code in the event of disputes completely meaningless – and with it the protections the public fought so hard for.
This makes you wonder what will happen to ODF proposals there. Microsoft is above the law. It’s not a compliment, but a strong criticism. Will companies learn to say “no”? Will governments finally intervene?
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06.17.07
Posted in Courtroom, FUD, Microsoft, Patents at 11:10 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
A fairly respectable publication comes out with an angry article that contains some very critical tone. As we mentioned the other day (without concrete proof), Microsoft is willing to take things to court as long as it creates a scare. The fragment below seems to confirm this. It also contradicts a recent promise made by Microsoft, however vague that promise may have been.
These moves have excalated from private lawsuits against individuals to open hostility against the world of free software and most recently, to inking cross-licensing (i.e.: “protection”) agreements.
All of this is, naturally, under the guise of “improving interoperability” between software products.
Mind the headline, which speaks about “bullying”. The “private lawsuits” part is fairly new, but it is far from being the first time that Microsoft does such things secretly. It refuses to talk (or rejects the opportunity to talk) about ‘collection’ of Free software ‘tax’ from businesses. What type of patents does it speak about, if any at all? Anything like this one?
An entrepreneur believes he’s struck gold with the rights to a 1999 patent for location-based search that he says is being infringed upon by some of the internet’s biggest players.
What an innovative idea…! Serving different results to different audiences based on location. Who would have thought about this??? Is there any prior art?
Whatever people are afraid of (or paying for), it could be as fundamental as the double click. It is time to escape the bubble and tell the world what is truly happening behind the scenes. Let us challenge the FUD rather than shut our eyes.
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Posted in Courtroom, GNU/Linux, GPL, Law, Novell, OpenSUSE at 10:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Alpha 5 of Opensuse 10.3 was announced just days ago. It is a good time to mention Groklaw’s latest article which addresses Novell’s effect on “free labour”. It unfolds and analyses the entanglement Novell’s deal with Microsoft presents to developers.
So, I understand this to mean that Microsoft pays these researchers to think and study and figure out ways to innovate in search so Microsoft can beat Google and Yahoo. Microsoft, I would guess, gets rights to the IP in some fashion. No wonder it has spent a fair amount of effort trying to get the community to drop the GPL and adopt the BSD license instead.
[...]
Of course, in Microsoft’s plan, it would be the end of competition against Microsoft by the GPL or by anybody in any real way, because one misstep, and Microsoft reserves the right to sue your pants off.
It’s a good read overall. If you are developing under Novell’s wing as a so-called “hobbyist”, maybe it’s time to ‘switch team’. You already have an open invitation.
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Posted in Europe, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux at 10:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
About a months ago, a reporter or two speculated that Microsoft’s extra ‘attention’ — paid primarily to Linux, but also to Free software — would lead developers to fear and desperation while decreasing adoption. The facts on the ground suggest otherwise. That extra attention may have brought more attraction and sped up the development of Linux. Here is the latest:
“We add 2,000 lines of code a day to the Linux kernel. We work on 2,800 lines of code a day. I’ve never seen the pace of change that Linux has shown,” said kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman, citing the accelerated pace on the open source operating system.
A lot of more encouraging news comes from the recent summit. For example, consider this:
“Linux will take a significant–I’m not allowed to say ‘dominant’–market share of mobile phone operating systems,” she predicted. Motorola expects 60% of its phones will use a version of embedded Linux “in a short time,” Wyatt said.
To all the skeptics who argued Linux developers would despair, be it resolved that Linux remains at its highs. It gains further momentum. Also hard to escape one’s attention is this major development (and precedence set) in Norway.
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06.16.07
Posted in GNU/Linux, Interoperability, Red Hat, Servers, Ubuntu at 8:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Earlier today, Shane pointed out that Ubuntu is not about to fall victim to Microsoft’s pressure. I fact, this was just one among several clarifications that Mark Shuttleworth had made recently. At one point he even went further and accused Microsoft of ‘racketeering’, which is illegal. It is worth re-emphasising that the most popular (as in “widely used”) desktop distribution, just like that in the server space, refuses and will continue to refuse to sell out. A couple of days ago, Red Hat repeated its stance on this issue.
“We continue to believe that open source and the innovation it represents should not be subject to an unsubstantiated tax that lacks transparency,” she said in an e-mail.
This echoes the argument that Red Hat made quite some time ago. Open standards are the only way forward. Not even a ‘portfolio’ of sellouts can change this. It will only make those who stand stubborn more popular and attractive. I moved to Ubuntu two days ago.
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Posted in Deals, Formats, Intellectual Monopoly, Interoperability, Linspire, Microsoft, Patents, Ubuntu at 11:39 am by Shane Coyle
Mark Shuttleworth has felt it necessary to respond to some of the speculation that Ubuntu, upon which Linspire is based, may be the next GNU/Linux distribution to make a deal with Microsoft under the pressure of unspecified patent infringement claims.
For the record, let me state my position, and I think this is also roughly the position of Canonical and the Ubuntu Community Council though I haven’t caucused with the CC on this specifically.
We have declined to discuss any agreement with Microsoft under the threat of unspecified patent infringements.
Allegations of “infringement of unspecified patents” carry no weight whatsoever. We don’t think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together. A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for. It does not protect users from the real risk of a patent suit from a pure-IP-holder (Microsoft itself is regularly found to violate such patents and regularly settles such suits). People who pay protection money for that promise are likely living in a false sense of security.
Shuttleworth also shows his disdain for Microsoft’s OOXML "standard" format and indicates that, like Red Hat, he is not opposed to the concept of working with Microsoft, just in "ways that further the cause of free software" and that "I don’t believe that the intent of the current round of agreements is supportive of free software…".
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Posted in Action, Deals, GPL, Linspire, Microsoft, Novell, OpenSUSE, Patent Covenant, Xandros at 11:01 am by Shane Coyle
When Novell and Microsoft decided to make their patent covenants, there was quite a furor and even some confusion, over Microsoft’s patent covenant to OpenSUSE.org contributors and it’s apparent value.
Of course, I see it as a mechanism of proprietizing Free Software using spurious and unspecified software patents, essentially it will provide patent coverage to any OpenSUSE.org code contribution that makes it into SUSE because Novell has already agreed to pay Microsoft an ongoing royalty in exchange for a right-to-use patent license for their customers.
Stafford Masie, shortly after the Microvell deal announcement, urged other distributions to approach and "embrace Microsoft" (seriously, he used that word – he said we should "embrace Microsoft", apparently he was unaware of what the next two steps in the MS strategy were). But, the message that Masie had was that all open source developers – large or small – should get right with Microsoft, and contact them soon for their very own IP license to their own code – or, join up with Novell since they are already paying for a license.
So, where then, is the FreeSpire.org covenant? This goes to why there hasn’t been nearly the outcry and backlash over the Xandros and Linspire deals: it is not acceptance, it is indifference. Besides the obvious lack of interest in either distribution prior to the deal, both Linspire and Xandros are essentially GNU/Linux repackagers, not nearly the contributors at the level of Novell, and as such do not command a large and dedicated volunteer developer community to upset and sell out.
Often on this site, Roy and I have each pined about how it is somewhat uncomfortable to go after Novell so vociferously for this deal, and no one here argues the fact that Novell has been a tremendous community member and contributor, excepting of course they allowed themselves to be the linchpin Microsoft pulled to make the wheels fall off of the GPLv2. And, I cannot accept that.
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