Xandros CEO Doesn’t Agree Linux is Patent Violator 156
whitehartstag writes with a link to a Network World article about statements from Xandros in the wake of their Microsoft deal. Xandros CEO Andreas Typaldos made a point of stating that they don't believe their product violates any of Microsoft's patents. Nor, he said, did the software giant share with them exactly which patents they believe Linux violates. Just the same, he's disappointed with the reaction they've received from the open source community. "Feedback from the Linux community has been on the order of 'you shouldn't really be talking to the devil.' Linux and open-source advocates believe it is a big issue and say the Xandros deal, and another signed by Novell with Microsoft last year, erodes open source licensing provisions especially around intellectual property issues. Indeed, the Free Software Foundation is rewriting its GNU General Public License (GPL) 3.0 to prohibit such patent deals in the future."
So You Made a Deal... (Score:4, Interesting)
Especially when significant money is involved?
Are you competent to even run this company?
TMBG quote FTW! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:So You Made a Deal... (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, if I could get Microsoft to sign something saying that would never sue me (for anything), I'd find the money somewhere to pay for it. In fact, if I can find someone who will give me a get out of jail free card for any major corporation, I could have a lot of fun
Re:In a word, "No". (Score:3, Interesting)
It sure will, given that at least up until this whole thing began (I don't have stats for after it) Linux was the only operating system gaining market share, though Windows was mostly holding. This is because Linux takes more seats away from Legacy UNIX than it does from Windows.
Frankly I think that the whole patent flap will have little to no effect on Linux adoption.
Deals like this with MS seem to be suicide (Score:3, Interesting)
It looks as though they get whispered blandishments from MS that this will make them special and unique, and improve their attractiveness to their customers, but all I can see is that a lot of individuals and SMEs will automatically exclude them from consideration as a distro after the deal is inked.
An alternative interpretation is that the people who sign the deals stand to make $$$ from the deals, and they see that as better than being YALD (Yet Another Linux Distro).
I'm likely missing something, of course...
Re:hmm (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I've not been following this whole thing very closely, but I do recall seeing the frequent complaint that Microsoft refuses to identify which patents are being infringed upon. Given that Microsoft probably holds thousands upon thousands of patents, I expect that it's not reasonable to expect the Linux community to proactively slog through them all and make sure all violations are corrected.
If I understand correctly, at least part of the burden is on Microsoft to defend their patents. I'm sure if they provided a list of the violations, the community would take care of the violations. It just seems to me that not releasing the list means either (1) there's not really any substantial violations, or (2) Microsoft just wants the spectre of patent infringement hanging over Linux as long as possible. Or maybe a little of both.
Just my uninformed two cents, though...take it with a block of salt.
Re:Handy boilerplate, if this dumb trend continues (Score:3, Interesting)
When the critical pieces are removed from these systems then they have no more product to distribute. Maybe they'll move on to BSD or something else.
This is simply divide and conquer. It is very old tactic. It is also commonly used. This is not conspiratorial. Microsoft simply wants to eliminate as many Linux allies as possible before hand by creating allies of their own. In the end they get all the IP when they allow their newly formed allies to die. It's a two pronged attack. It is one attack that they divide and conquer us and another to have us kill their allies (which used to be our allies). Either way, it works for them. It's so simple I can't believe you guys don't see it. To have Xandros enter into such an agreement is a death knell for them and Microsoft knows this. Any piece of the Linux industry that dies and is aided in death by the Linux community is a win for Microsoft.
Nonetheless, we need to cut the rotten meat from the calf in order to grow stronger. When Xandros dies and when Novell is too weak to continue we'll be stronger because those that know what is at stake will aid us at becoming stronger.
Microsoft knows that this is a tactic to delay things. It is a big gamble that we won't see what they are doing until it is too late. What they fail to understand is that millions of minds using and supporting the Linux industry is much better than the drones at MS creating DRM infected crap-ware. Nonetheless, they still will end up with a lot more money before it is all over. They know this will delay adoption. Every company that does indeed enter into an agreement extends the length of time that there will be a delay.
If we are not careful there'll be no Linux distributed without Microsoft's permission.
Also, the CEO of Xandros spoke around the fact that Microsoft allegedly told them anything specific. He should tell us exactly, in their words, what was said by them. You don't just enter into an agreement without knowing all the ins and outs. At least you better not. If you are entering into such agreements you are essentially slitting your own wrists. Apple didn't take enough care when they entered into the agreement with Microsoft over the GUI and Gates let them know that in no uncertain terms. I can guarantee you that Microsoft has gotten a lot better at entering into contracts with all sorts of unscrupulous clauses. Xandros and Novell had better watch out.
This should be a warning that the levy could break and a lot more companies enter into such agreements with the Devil.
Re:I disagree - but I know where you're coming fro (Score:4, Interesting)
And exactly what is the Xandros product? Just an FYI, Xandros does not own linux, they distriute linux which is licensed to them by the owners of the copyrights under the GPL. The Novell and Xandros deals are BS because they are linux distributors and at best a small player in the development of linux.
From the base of the kernel source code I ran an egrep -ir "Xandros" * | egrep "Copyright" and came up with nothing, for Novell there was only one. If you try something like "Red Hat" or "IBM" or "Hewlett" you come up with a list of multiple copyrights.
So is Microsoft signing a deal with Xandros to not go after their customers for the services that Xandros provides? Its definitely not for any Xandros intellectual property.
It is the same issue, both are based on posturing rather than facts, linux adoption did not stop, and there was no reason to fear The SCO Group unless you were a previous customer of the original SCO. The SCO Group professed loudly the same threats in the press but in the end they didn't go after a single linux user, they went after their own customers who did business with them in the past.
So if The SCO Group is any hint of what will happen its likely the people who are signing deals with Microsoft are the ones who will get screwed.
Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)
- how many patents does MS have? or how/where to find out? can they be electronically leached somehow?
- how easy are they to turn from legalease technojumbo to english?
- what kind of effort it might take to review each one?
Maybe an MS patent wiki is in order.
Start with (hopefully) an automated dump of all patents into a wiki of some sort where people can read them, and link to prior art, and/or state whether this might be in use by OSS somewhere... that way we can work to invalidate on one side and assess and remove possible risks on the other.
If this becomes a community effort then perhaps it can be dealt with more manageably ... anyone know how to get it started?
One Day They Came... (Score:3, Interesting)
First they came and they took Novell
And I said nothing because I did not use SuSE
Then one day they came and they took the people of the Xandros faith
And I said nothing because I had no faith left
One day they came and they took LG Electronics
And I said nothing because I had no Xbox
One day they burned Open Office.org
And I said nothing because I was born to use Emacs
Then one day they came and they took me
And I could say nothing because I was as guilty as they were
For not speaking out and saying that all men have a right to freedom
On any land
I was as guilty of genocide
As you
All of you
For you know when a man is free
And when to set him free from his slavery
So I charge you all with genocide
The same as I
One of the 18 million dead Jews
18 million dead people
-- from Charles Mingus, after Martin Niemöller
Re: I disagree (Score:3, Interesting)
no suprise (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:In a word, "No". (Score:3, Interesting)
They're pretty popular for people who run computer labs full of Macs (schools, for example). The netboot and ARD stuff makes it much easier to install new machines, distribute cloned images to their drives remotely (or remove the hard drives entirely and netboot them all), set up network home directories and domain-wide login accounts, etc.
That said, you're right that Apple has never really pushed the enterprise server market.