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 at 11:54 AM