More Twists for Microsoft-Novell Linux Deal
    If we're to believe a somewhat cryptic, anonymously sourced 
story 
  that appeared this week, Novell "won't be punished" by the Free 
  Software Foundation for making its contentious (to say the very least) SuSE 
  Linux deal with Microsoft. We'd like to take that to mean that the FSF won't 
  use the forthcoming version GPLv3, the license that governs Linux use, to stop 
  Microsoft from distributing SuSE Linux -- something it 
currently 
  has the power to do.
But before we take this as a sign that the open source folks are giving in, 
  consider that the latest draft of GPLv3 would 
  strip Microsoft of the patent rights that it 
  claims it has over open source software if Microsoft continues to distribute 
  SuSE Linux. (Hm, and all this time we thought that the FSF folks didn't believe 
  that Microsoft had legitimate patent claims at all. Why bother with eliminating 
  them, then, FSF?) So, evidently, the standoff will continue. 
Almost lost in all this is the fact that Microsoft and Novell, after a very 
  successful run in the first fiscal quarter of their deal, saw the fruits of 
  their partnership decline 
  considerably in its second quarter. And Novell, while doing better than 
  Wall Street analysts expected, is still 
  losing money. Are potential problems with patents and licenses keeping people 
  away from SuSE Linux? If so, that's 
  a loss for Microsoft, Novell and the open source movement, as well as more 
  critically for partners and users. As we've said here before, in this kind of 
  battle, nobody wins.
 
	
Posted by Lee Pender on June 01, 2007