11.22.06
Posted in Deals, GPL, Novell, Red Hat at 7:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Another opinion piece from ZDNet Blogs clearly suggests that Red Hat will be able to endure, if not prosper more than ever before. It concludes with the following:
…Oracle may hurt Red Hat, but not nearly as much as you’d think. As for Novell and Microsoft they have their own issues to sort out.
It is encouraging to see that Novell’s mistake hurts its own presence more than it affects other Linux vendors. In fact, judging by all those Linux contracts which are struck so frequently (more latterly the City of Vienna, Dakota, and Nokia), it seems like Novell remains an issue for Eben Moglen to address in GPLv3. In the interim, it’s business as usual for GNU/Linux.
Let Steve Ballmer talk. Let him and Ron Hovspeian continue to “agree to disagree”. When the children are through playing perhaps they can start worrying about their dwindling products again. The only genuine gainer at the moment is (non-SUSE) Linux.
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Posted in Deals, Deception, Microsoft, Novell, Patent Covenant at 2:24 am by Shane Coyle
CNet has a wide-ranging interview with Bill Gates, in which he touches partially on the Novell deal and Open Source / Free Software. Here is an interesting quote:
We’re also letting Novell give something that you get in the commercial model, but you rarely get otherwise, which is the indemnification, just like we always do with every copy of Windows. So we’re pioneering some things here.
Let me get this straight – Novell is providing the indemnification? I thought the brilliance here was the fact that MS was providing the indemnification, therefore sidestepping the GPL2?
So far, I have yet to hear any two people who should have knowledge of the deal’s significance give the same story. We have Ron’s perspective and Microsoft’s official response, Steve Ballmer’s view on what the deal means, and David Kaefer’s spin on what Steve said, and now Chairman Gates.
PJ at Groklaw made a great point the other day about a meeting of the minds as a requirement for a valid contract, with each passing day I wonder if there was ever even a meeting of the executives.
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Posted in FUD, Intellectual Monopoly, Marketing, Novell, Red Hat at 1:43 am by Shane Coyle
Mark Webbink has responded, point by point, to the Novell open letter to the community. Here is an excerpt, where he responds to Novells assertions that they have not changed their stance on Patents and Open Source:
- We have stated our commitment to use our own software patents to protect open source technologies. But what they have really said is: “Novell will use its patent portfolio to protect itself against claims made against the Linux kernel or open source programs included in Novell’s offerings, as dictated by the actions of others.“
- We have spoken out against EU legislation that would liberalize the standards for granting software patents. But read what they have really said: “Novell has sought to use and will continue to use patents as a legitimate means of protecting Novell’s software offerings. We believe that the current system in the European Union has served the industry, the individual Member States and Novell well, and generally promotes innovation and competition in the industry. And compare this passive statement to the actions taken by Sun Microsystems and Red Hat in actively working with the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure in fighting off the Computer Implemented Inventions directive.
- We offer indemnification to our Linux customers accused of intellectual property infringement. But read what they have really said: “Indemnification is offered for copyright infringement claims.” This statement doesn’t address any form of intellectual property other than copyright.
- We have teamed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and other industry leaders to reduce the issuance of �bad patents� in the software area. But the lead sponsors for the peer review project underway between the USPTO and the New York Law School are IBM, Red Hat, GE, HP, and Microsoft. There is a significant difference between participation and commitment, just ask a pig about breakfast.
- In 2005, we co-founded Open Invention Network (�OIN�), �an intellectual property company that was formed to promote Linux by using patents to create a collaborative environment.� Novell’s substantial contributions to OIN were made to benefit not only ourselves, but also other Linux vendors, distributors and developers, and anyone else willing to commit not to assert their patents against Linux. Absolutely true. Novell was an active and dynamic participant in establishing OIN. And the fact that Novell has (or perhaps I should say had) such a strong patent portfolio and worked diligently to establish OIN only emphasizes my original point – the deal they entered can best be understood as appeasement.
Webbink calls Novell an appeasor, invoking images of Neville Chamberlain declaring “Peace in our time” in 1938, and poses the rhetorical question: “Ron, what were you thinking?”
I have a rhetorical followup: “Was the short-term payoff worth it?” The 10% gain in Novell stock is eroding already, Credit Suisse has downgraded Novell to underperform – noting the one time nature of the payment and lack of community support for your deal, and it appears your primary competitor Red Hat is now poised to take advantage of your misstep.
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11.21.06
Posted in Deals, Novell, Red Hat at 7:59 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Over the course of the day I have been observing a torrent of good news for Red Hat. This company, which is Novell’s main rival, appears to quickly recover from an almost-simultaneous onslaught, courtesy of Novell, Microsoft, and Oracle. This recovery was not made possible owing to the immediate buybacks alone. Red Hat now boasts support from over 2000 independent software vendors (ISV’s), its stock just rose 2.36% and it received an upgrade from an analyst. To quote the relevant bits:
…we believe that there are still enormous returns on investment opportunities associated with the Open Source movement…The recent announcements from Oracle and Microsoft create an interesting dilemma for investors, however we believe that Dell, IBM and HP, etc., will stay the course and continue to support Red Hat, and the recent headlines have provided a unique opportunity to “get involved” in the Linux story.
This proves not only that Ellison’s and Ballmer’s FUD strategy cannot boggle the customer’s perception. It may also come to show that Red Hat will soon acquire customers at Novell’s expense. Not even the world’s largest software companies, as prominent as they these titans may be, can undermine the Linux industry as a whole. It is by all means reassuring.
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Posted in Deals, Finance, Novell at 7:05 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The sun no shines over Novell’s head. Ever since the deceptive deal was made, its reputation has been gradually sinking.
Three weeks ago when Novell, Inc. announced a groundbreaking deal to partner with Microsoft to work on interop solutions between its Linux operating system and Microsoft’s, shares jumped 16%. Since then, they have given up more than half of their gains, emphasized yesterday by a note downgrading the stock to “underperform” by Credit Suisse analyst Jason Maynard, who wrote, “We do not believe the 10% appreciation in the stock is sustainable.”
Microsoft’s parallel upgrade from the same analyst seems to highlight who the winner in this partnership is. Meanwhile, an item from bizjournal.com appears to suggest that Novell has just lost another executive. Less impact for Novell equates to diminishing credence in Microsoft’s allegations and FUD.
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Posted in Intellectual Monopoly, Mono, Red Hat at 5:06 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
It has already been argued that Novell’s Mono had evolved to become a legal minefield. Unsurprisingly, Red Hat excludes Mono from RHEL 5.
There are a lot of great new programs and innovations expected in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. The Novell-led Mono project isn’t one of them.
Mono is an open source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET framework. It recently hit version 1.2 offering the promise of improved Windows-to-Linux .NET portability.
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Posted in Action, Boycott Novell, GPL, Novell at 2:17 pm by Shane Coyle
Novell has lost their Geek Cred, they sold out, even Credit Suisse knows it. Eben Moglen and the Free Software Foundation are going to specifically design the GPL3 to disallow discriminatory deals such as the one that Novell has entered into with Microsoft.
Under Microsofts Community Commitment terms, the only approved channel for code redistribution is OpenSuSE.org, and then only if it is accepted into a full SuSE product. Essentially, they feel that the compulsion to code is so great that the community will be forced to enhance Novell’s increasingly proprietary and encumbered Linux.
It is time for the OpenSuSE community to speak out, or more specifically – walk out. Let Novell know that they will be responsible for maintaining their own forks (or they can always get help from MS, they write decent code) from here on in.
Participate in the discussion for GPL3, and prepare to implement it. For many projects, this may require an audit to identify code which cannot be relicensed and perhaps replaced, but maybe that is Microsoft’s plan – to slow down OSS development a few years and let Vista catch up. In any event, let us make sure that GPL3 reaffirms our commitment to Freedom.
It is already apparent that Microsoft is succeeding in fragmenting the community, and it is because Novell agreed to this short-sighted, self-serving deal. Because Novell has decided to act in its own best interests, counter to the espoused principles of the very people who write the software the distribute, they must be excommunicated.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
History shows us what happens to those who partner with Microsoft.
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Posted in FUD, Intellectual Monopoly, Law, Microsoft, Patent Covenant, Patents, Windows at 7:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
David Berlind of ZDNet argues that, while Novell denies responsibility for or admission of patent infringements, a door remains open on the trademarks front. This is a long write-up which concludes that Steve Ballmer could go for legal pickles rather than major baseless allegations over IP.
That could be in the case. Especially since Novell, in its watershed deal with Microsoft, has taken great care to reiterate that it still believes that it has not infringed on any Microsoft patents. Why then would Novell pay such a huge sum of money (with a promise of longer-term royalities) if it really believed this? Answer? Microsoft may have presented Novell with compelling evidence that Linux (or something that Novell was distributing) infringes on its copyright. Or maybe a trademark (or a servicemark).
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