Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community 299
TechGeek sends us to eWeek, where Mark Shuttleworth is quoted to the effect that Microsoft has succeeded in fracturing the Linux and open-source community with its patent indemnity agreements. Quoting: "Microsoft's strategy was to drive a wedge into the open-source community and unsettle the marketplace, Shuttleworth said. He also took issue with the Redmond, Wash., software maker for not disclosing the 235 of its patents it claims are being violated by Linux and other open-source software. 'That's extortion and we should call it what it is,' he said." Shuttleworth added, "I don't think this will end well for the companies that slipped up and went down that road."
Fractured, schmatured... (Score:5, Interesting)
bickering before Microsoft got involved. Ever since someone noticed the GPL and BSD licenses were different, there's been 3000GW of heat produced by zealots and pragmatists alike (and almost no light).
This is nothing new. Haven't you ever read debian-legal?
Re:Much ado about nothing (Score:4, Interesting)
I tend to agree. If the Linux community is worried about Microsoft trying to fracture them, the simple solution is to not attack each other for dealing with Microsoft.
The Microsoft deal IMHO is a good one for Novel. Their target market is the enterprise. They know that Microsoft is not going to be driven from that market any time soon. Partnering with Microsoft to guarantee interoperability just makes it easier for a suit to decide it is OK to install Suse Linux. I think that anything that results in a greater installed base of any Linux distribution is a win for the Linux community. Ultimately it should lead to greater adoption and acceptance of Linux as a mainstream OS.
Re:In other words (Score:4, Interesting)
cowards (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:For some perspective (Score:2, Interesting)
Shuttleworth quakes, but not the rest of us..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Many people have told them directly, and in no uncertain terms, so sue me. The principal of estoppel says that Microsoft will get into hot water unlike any it has ever known should it open the pandora's box of patent litigation against the F/OSS community.
Shuttleworth dances with the devil. No wonder he's hot under the collar.
Linux isn't fractured. Linux isn't hurt. Linux development and FOSS will naturally evolve. It grows stronger. It is principled, where Microsoft certainly is specifically interested solely in shareholder return. Let's see, Linux has been successfully sued how many times? How many countries has busted Linux for restraint of trade and so on? How many attorney generals have sued Linux? Now show me the assets Microsoft gets by suing Linux. There is no Linux; there are multiple OS kernels, and a freighter full of GNU and GPL's apps. There are no assets. There ARE NO VIOLATORS. The lineage of what Linux has become has been more than adequately outlined in multiple different litigations by multiple reference-able authors.
That's why the SCO-IBM litigation farce was underwritten by Microsoft (and others) and why it's so flimsy. Shuttleworth needs to re-examine his motives. Certainly a corp as large as Micorosft can make anyone quake. So can several quarters of very negative revenues make Microsoft change its tune.
A common enemy unites, not fractures, a community (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, after MS has made patent agreements with several companies, GPLv3 has been released, and several companies have explicitly REFUSED to sign such patent agreements with MS, the community is more cohesive -- more understanding of the importance of Free Software and in agreement that signing such patent indemnification agreements with Microsoft is a Bad Idea(tm).
As the dust settles, there are splits: Novell sits alongside Microsoft. Alongside the FSF we see Redhat, Ubuntu, Debian, and many others.
I'm excited that major vendors such as Dell and Lenovo are offering GNU/Linux pre-installed on their machines. By supporting such vendors, the Free Software community can show them that a strong demand for GNU/Linux exists. Unfortunately Lenovo will be pre-installing SuSE (from Novell) on their machines, and I encourage all of you geeks out there to WRITE to Lenovo and request that instead of SuSE they pre-install a distribution that respects Free Software such as Redhat or Ubuntu. Similarly, write to Dell and tell them that you STRONGLY appreciate the fact that they chose Ubuntu as their GNU/Linux distribution.
So to sum it up:
Keep on using the software, spend your money in support of these companies, and preach the good word of Free Software.
Peace. Love. Linux.
Re:No surprise, but it won't work (Score:5, Interesting)
It is absolutely obvious that Microsoft has accepted that Linux will dominate, eventually, and is making plans for keeping its business afloat even after Windows has lost its grip on the market. Patents play a crucial role in this - you may want to run Linux on your machines but you'll have to pay Microsoft a patent royalty.
We're past the stage where Microsoft thinks it can shut-out FOSS. Actually, I expect that Microsoft has already made contingency plans for moving its core products onto either a Linux or a BSD kernel, much like Apple did.
There is no other reason to explain Microsoft's fanatical lobbying for software patents in Europe; it's not because the vendor thinks it'll suddenly be able to out-portfolio IBM, it's because it knows that it only needs 1 (one) valid patent on any key aspect of Linux (one that cannot be recoded), and it has won its game.
They will fail, in this as well, mainly because they are starting to get the whole IT sector lined up against them, with the exception of their puppy Linux vendors, and Intel, who fear Linux because it breaks their monopoly (Linux being totally portable is the ultimate monopoly killer).
Novells spindoctors are on the job. (Score:3, Interesting)
When I read this article on
"SuSE, it's your Linux"
Which is pretty ironic really. I mean if it was our Linux we would never have let them deal with the devil like they did.
This ad shows that they really are concerned about the fallout from their pact with MS
Damned if they do ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The Blame is Not MS (Score:5, Interesting)
Before there were people in the GPL 2 camp sure they argued inside on things but with GPL 3 my making the rules clear means people who were once in the GPL camp are now out. Thus causing fracturing. You are bringing a smaller group of people together at the expense of ostracizing others who don't agree with this view. It took a long time for companies to begin to warm up to the GPL, and began finding ways to use it and make profit off of it. Then RMS with his sometimes hypocritical usually Ultra Leftist views decides that companies are abusing the nature of open source (except for IBM who can't do no wrong... Who probably is a big supporter of the FOSS). Most of us doesn't care about what Microsoft and Novel is doing trading patents in exchange for mutual protection of each others patents are a normal thing that goes on. But GPL 3 is what worries people myself included because we feel that it is going into a direction that is to strict and removes to much freedom from the developer and the user as well. Because a lot of the time Users are Developers too.
Re:Predictable (Score:3, Interesting)
The Blame is Copyright Law (Score:2, Interesting)
> nature of open source
Why is his Ultra Leftist views hypocritical?
> Most of us doesn't care about what Microsoft and Novel is doing trading patents in exchange for mutual
> protection of each others patents are a normal thing that goes on.
Most of "you", who, exactly? Who is this "us" you're talking about? AFAIC, i do care if powers that be are trying to mutualy protect each other. In this day free software equals free speech. This will be even more more apparent in the next 100 years. I do care if someone is trying to shrink my personal freedoms. Argument from popularity, trying to use, are we?
> But GPL 3 is what worries people myself included because we feel that it is going into a direction that is
> to strict and removes to much freedom from the developer and the user as well. Because a lot of the time
> Users are Developers too.
That is not a freedom you have, Sir. It is not the perogative of any user or any developer or any company to remove a piece of FREE (as in speech) software from the free software pool. From a Marxist point of view, while under copyright law, releasing software in any other licence than the GPL, actually removes power from the developer and the user. As do pattents.
Hackers of the World, unite. You got nothing to lose. the pattent office, does, though. a lot.
PS1 Anybody care to comment on my hypothesis? "Computer Programmers are the first generation of western proletariats who can and do own their means of production". *cough*marxisthacker*cought*
Re:The Blame is Not MS (Score:3, Interesting)
I work on a couple of GPLv2 projects and can't wait to release them under GPLv3. No one is "brow beating" projects into going GPLv3, projects are going GPLv3 because it is the better license.