Mandriva Says No to Microsoft Linux Deal

Kurtz'sKompund writes "French Linux vendor Mandriva said no to dealing with Microsoft on open source patents. They're the third Linux vendor in a week to do so, joining Red Hat and Ubuntu in the 'against' column. TechWorld reports that Mandriva's CEO echoed statements from other open source leaders, saying essentially 'we don't need to pay protection money to do our job.' From the article: 'Jonathan Eunice, an analyst at Illuminata, said Microsoft's deals with Xandros and Linspire don't have the same impact as they would if they had been made with a major Linux vendor such as Red Hat. "I think Microsoft is going to second-tier players, and they're cutting deals with them because they are softer targets," Eunice said.'"

How many more?

[Statecraftsman]

I wonder how many more Linux vendors have to say no to Microsoft before they remember what got them in the position they're in. Didn't they at some point develop and ship software people wanted to use?

Note to Bill: Fire the lawyers and improve Vista. See the accompanying discussion to this article [slashdot.org] to begin pulling your head out.

Re:How many more?

[Zantetsuken]

Maybe you still think its just the lawyers influencing these decisions and that Ballmer and Gates still actually would care about the company if "we just swayed them in the right direction" - these decisions would still happen, if not more often and more aggressive attacks against the open source community even without lawyers. Quoting Steve Ballmer off of Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] (and the source from the wiki quote: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-268520.html [com.com])

He has referred to the free Linux software system as a "[...] cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches."

Re:Absolutely no reason to cave.

[mp3phish]

Bill Gates also heavilly donates to the RNC and to republican candidates

How do you think the political appointment of Ashcroft went through so smoothly and what was the first thing on Ashcroft's agenda? Dissolve the push for a harder MS settlement.