Mandriva Says No to Microsoft Linux Deal 150
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.'"
So.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, who would side with MS when you can get 3 priceless things which your entire business model relies on?
Where's the business case? (Score:5, Insightful)
Absolutely no reason to cave. (Score:5, Insightful)
a) Acting out a patent lawsuit against a European company would be an utter political disaster for Microsoft. As soon as MS starts filing patent lawsuits against European companies, the EU will invent a reason to sue Microsoft again and again.
b) Acting out a patent lawsuit against an American company that is well funded, such as IBM, would be a disaster for the software industry and invite federal involvement, which no one wants.
c) Microsoft, like many tech companies, has managed to alienate Republican support. Ballmer might be a Republican, but Gates has already said he's, sigh, for the other side. So, I wouldn't expect a great many Republicans leaping to the defense of MS in the event some sort of legal war goes against them. And surely, Democrats aren't exactly going to rush to defend an oligarchical billionaire's company. Microsoft doesn't really have the allies on the hill that it thinks it has, and Republicans remember MS didn't do them any favors after they got a sweetheart anti-trust deal to begin with.
Bottom line is this: Microsoft's patent threat is a threat only, one that would it be stupid to use, and Linux distros shouldn't be afraid of it.
Re:Where's the business case? (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you think MS still pays money to distros 5,10 years down the line? No, then they want to receive money, at least from the ones still around.
MS is in for the long haul here.
Re:Where's the business case? (Score:5, Insightful)
Mandriva has always been nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Mandriva/Mandrake has held a place in my heart for a long time. It is up to date, and it has about the nicest install.
If you are going to give a linux PC to a newbie, they are one of the first I would recommend. They have configuration tools (drake) that are second to none.
It is a very nice distro, and now with the assurance that we are free from MS worries, I would highly recommend trying it to see if it is the right distro for your friends.
Re:Thank God. (Score:3, Insightful)
They are our liberators, not a Supreme Being (may I be struck dead by lightning if it ain't so)!
Re:So.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, who would side with MS when you can get 3 priceless things which your entire business model relies on?
Re:What about me? And gentoo and... (Score:4, Insightful)
Way to go Mandriva! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mandriva has always been nice (Score:4, Insightful)
The x.2 and the 10.x (through 2006) were pretty ugly. 2007 and 2007.1 seem to be pretty good.
Until Ubuntu, MDK had the rep as *THE* newbie friendly distro. The installer is still second to none (with the caveat that it seems to overwrite the MBR with grub even if you tell it to install grub on the root partition instead).
Re:So.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure it's a bigger deal than that.
Undoubtedly, Microsoft is waving a big bag of money in front of these vendors in order to entice them to sign. Turning away a deal with a devil that'll plop you tons of cash in your pocket to help fuel future R&D plus the promise of no future litigation from M$' army of lawyers so you can focus on said R&D might not be as easy to turn away as it seems.
I will say though, this makes my respect for those vendors who have refused to sign that much greater
Novell is hardly 2nd tier (Score:1, Insightful)
Can't stop a magnum (Score:3, Insightful)
by happy coincidence, lists 357 distros.
Redmond has bought off a couple already, and certainly a healthy chunk have a userbase in a low power of two. That leaves a couple hundered in the middle somewhere.
So the strategy can't be to try to bail out the ocean. Redmond's business acumen is way beyond that.
I'm thinking that this is all about hedging against further anti-trust litigation:
"But dad! We played nice with a whole bunch of those kids. That pile of human wreckage over in the corner is just a bunch of lazy whiners."
Re:Where's the business case? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So.. (Score:5, Insightful)
now that some have said yes, some no - next step? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A deal they SHOULD be making (Score:4, Insightful)
MS won't risk it. No, the FUD value is *far* more valuable to them. They can scare people away from F/OSS and scare others into making their own deals.
Re:Is it because vista sales were weak? (Score:3, Insightful)
Only Microsoft knows that, but it is a suspicion I've had for some time. Issuing public threats is bad PR, and would only be done in an emergency. If Vista and Office 2007 sales were shooting through the roof, why hurt the company's reputation by starting to make vague threats left and right?
The best reason not to do any deal... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A deal they SHOULD be making (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Thank God. (Score:1, Insightful)
because maximizing the physical ease and physical physical pleasure of physical life on earth IS NOT his purpose.
his purpose is much HIGHER than that and allowing natural disasters and human kind disasters (up to a point) furthers his ETERNAL purpose.
what is that purpose? ultimately, it is to teach people that the *only* way that leads to peace, happiness, joy and contentment for the person and the community is to care for others EQUAL (not more, not less, but EQUAL) to oneself.
one such method is to give dust life and allow them to live contrary to this TRUTH and reap the natural consequences of their selfishness (caring for oneself more than caring for others). Voila! look around you for the results of this "exercise."
oh, and religious organization can, and often are, as selfish as they come, too - and they are just as wrong. don't listen to the guy who is trying to get your wealth - listen to the guy/gal who is trying to get your excess wealth to the truly disadvantaged and who leads by example.
every sane slashdotter *knows* the world would be a better place if everyone cared for others *equal* to themself. even so, you fail to treat others in this manner. so do i. but we can make it a priority to improve.
Re:Divide... and conquer. (Score:3, Insightful)