On Friday, 10 בNovember 2006 01:44, Amos Shapira wrote:
> ...
> "Nay" people are just sceptic without being able to pinpoint any specific
> evidence
Ok, I'll try to do some pinpointing.
> On top of that - I don't buy the "Novell is selling out OpenSource" claims
> (again - I didn't see any supporting evidence to that claim so far) simply
> because as far as I understand basic copyright laws they can't - the code
> isn't theirs to give up the rights on.
Yes, but copyright law is not the only game in town. The deal talks
specifically about patents -- Now it may be your software but you are
not allowed to use it.
Obviously, they didn't say *which* patents they are trading (if any).
FUD has the interesting property of causing real damage even when it
deals with purely imaginary "facts".
So even if those patent threats are hollow (as I really think),
they may be doing real harm.
> I DO always suspect MS whenever they sign such deals (I keep remembering
> what happened to Spyglass[3], though I'm sure others can come up with more
> examples of what happens to companies/people who go to bed with MS),
* MS knows very well how to cope with competing companies. It has
a long history of demolishing competitors -- both very large
(e.g: IBM's PC strategy with OS/2) and smaller ones (e.g: Novel
itself which dominated the PC server market until mid-90's).
For further reference, you may wish to read:
"COURT'S FINDINGS OF FACT"
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm
* What makes Linux different is what made the "Internet" different.
There is no single entity to compete against -- no company to
buy, no single product to win, not a coherent target for FUD --
Just some blurry target that is collectively called "Linux".
> but so far I don't see a reason to punish a Linux company which did
> great things to advance Linux in the corporate world and DID give back
> a lot to the community (and I'm saying this as a long time Debian user).
It's not about punishing, it's about self preservation. Regretfully, Suse
always used a mixed free/non-free platform. This means that even without
MS interference they had very good incentives to create "vendor-lockin"
to their proprietary technologies (Ariel Biener just gave excellent
example in his interesting overview of Suse+Zen+... in TAU).
Now, with a witty-and-non-Linux-loving company messing with Novel
technology roadmap there is very real threat: Technology originating
from Novel *may* contain unknown vendor lockins (like some undisclosed
MS patents). This means such a technology is no longer free software.
What Novel didn't understand (IMO) is that because they got an exclusive
patent deal with MS, they also got themselves isolated -- any software
originating from them *may* be tainted with patent-encumbered stuff
from MS and therefore cannot be safely mixed with others.
Usually, people ignore the problem by saying they don't mind *using*
Suse (or RedHat, Ubuntu, whatsnot, ).
Let's look from a different perspective:
* Ubuntu is derived from Debian (no problem, Debian is free).
* Mandrake was derived from RedHat (~6.0, no problem it was free).
* CentOS/Whitebox are derived from RedHat Enterprise Edition (free
software, but trademark changing is required).
* Who would dare to derive a commercial distro from Suse?
* What company would derive (not use) a technology based on Mono?
So even if many people still *use* Suse, as FOSS developers we are
losing an important player which is now isolated:
* We loose (Suse and ximian contributed some important stuff).
* Novel loose (Partnerships with MS never has an happy end).
* MS moved their divide-and-conquer one step ahead.
For the record, I don't think it's fatal, and in the end the FOSS
world is strong enough for this attack. But negative move, it is.
--
Oron Peled Voice/Fax: +972-4-8228492
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.actcom.co.il/~oron
ICQ UIN: 16527398
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
-- Isaac Asimov
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