John Wendel wrote:
Phil Meyer wrote:
Steffen Kluge wrote:
http://www.novell.com/news/press/item.jsp?id=1196
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx
Cheers
Steffen.
Several things here:
Remember the 'cross licensing' deal with SUN that ended the Java
litigation and enabled .Net?
This is similar, with a clear win for Microsoft.
1. The litigation Novell vs. Microsoft anti competitive WordPerfect is
over.
2. The Mono developers and users feel better.
3. Novell gets some much needed short term cash.
What does Microsoft get?
This 'deal' INFERS that Novell agrees with Microsoft that Linux
infringes Microsoft patents.
This will make it much easier for Microsoft to attack or strongarm
other Linux distributors.
What do we get?
An 800 pound gorilla with a history a corporate violence with
Novell/SUSE in its pocket. Not a good thing at all.
Personally, I hope Novell likes its windfall of short term cash as
much as SUN did, and I hope it allows them to survive the 6 year
duration of the agreement.
As for me, my interest in SUSE has vanished, even faster than my
interest in Solaris did. I had previous to the SUN agreement
installed Solaris personally on over 1500 systems of all sizes. I
have not since.
See the more detailed analysis at http://groklaw.net
If I were running RH, I'd be looking to move my corporation to another
country, preferably one that ignored US patent law. I suspect we'll all
be paying Microsoft soon (or trying to get our updates from a Chinese
web site).
I hate being controlled by a criminal monopoly.
If I were running RH, I would be inclined to be talking closely to my
own 800 pound gorilla, namely IBM.
I'd also be pulling out my dusty copy of Andy Grove's book "Only the
Paranoid Survive", sitting in a comfy chair, sipping some nice Port and
re-reading it, cover to cover.
:-)
Marc Schwartz
