Microsoft (Probably) Didn't Just Buy Unix 289
jfruhlinger writes "Word came down this morning that when Attachmate bought Novell, certain intellectual property rights were sold to a Microsoft-led consortium as part of the deal. Since Unix is the most valuable piece of IP Novell owns, there was a certain amount of panic that suddenly Redmond is in charge of this foundational technology for Linux and a number of other open source projects. But, while MS is being cagey, Brian Proffitt doubts that Unix was part of the IP package that was sold — and believes that Linux would be safe even if it were."
Re:What if.. (Score:0, Informative)
Then they would boot up a LiveCD, mount the root partition somewhere, chroot into it and run `passwd' to set their own root password.
Re:FUD parade continues on... (Score:4, Informative)
Linux is not using Unix. It is unix-like, but that is about it. Also don't fix what ain't broke. Even MS is now admitting they must go that way with their powershell and even headless setup.
Re:Linux IS classified as a form of UNIX though... (Score:4, Informative)
Forgot to mention, two articles written by two idiots does not change this fact.
Unix is a trademarked term that belongs to the open group, genetic unix would be the BSDs. Linux does not fall into either of these groups, it is only unix-like.
Re:What? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wait (Score:3, Informative)
No, they licensed UNIX from AT&T to make Xenix - AT&T still owned the rights. (Newer versions of System V licensed some code back from Microsoft - there's some code with Microsoft copyrights on it.)
Re:They bought 882 Novell patents; Whither OIN? (Score:3, Informative)
More importantly, Novell owns a LOT of patents related to networking, directory services and things like that.
Re:I certainly hope so (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix [wikipedia.org]
Re:What really happened - OIN Emasculated (Score:4, Informative)
If you want the story, see Groklaw (Score:5, Informative)
www.groklaw.net. Pamela Jones is the Empress, the rightful dispenser of knowledge on who goeth there regarding Linux, the Law, and the great game called Follow The Money.
You're probably right about that (Score:3, Informative)
Except Novell didn't own unix (Score:5, Informative)
Novell didn't have to show they owned the rights to Unix in SCO vs Novell - just that, whatever rights they had, they didn't convey them to Santa Cruz.
So whatever they bought from AT&T, it wasn't "ALL right to Unix."
Re:They bought 882 Novell patents; Whither OIN? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, just take a look [google.com]. Novell was one of the companies that invented networking, so they have stuff that probably every modern OS is infringing. Active Directory very probably infringed some of them (that probably was one of the reasons why Microsoft signed a patent agreement with them). Just some examples:
Method and apparatus for network file recovery [google.com]
Firewall system for quality of service management [google.com]
Methods, data stores, data structures, and systems for electronic identity [google.com]
System and method for automically authenticating a user in a distributed network system [google.com]
Method and apparatus for proxy authentication [google.com]
Secure intranet access [google.com]
System and method for synchronizing database information [google.com]
They even have some UI patents: Method for automatically resizing a child window [google.com]
And some weird OS functionality Method and apparatus for mapping page table trees into virtual address space [google.com]
Of course they are stupid, but god knows what can a good lawyer firm do with them.
Won't always work.. (Score:4, Informative)
Sometimes a distro will muck with init setup so that prompts for root password.
However, there's a good chance init=/bin/sh will work (depending on initrd contents).
Booting a rescue image is probably the most bullet-proof way to do it, unless the root fs is encrypted in which case you're screwed unless you had a password that can be dictionary cracked.
Re:I certainly hope so (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, there was a time (2.5 decades ago) when Microsoft sold a very popular (for a period, the most widely installed) Unix variant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix [wikipedia.org]
There are lots of people on here that remember Xenix and SCO UNIX, from the days before Caldera bought SCO's UNIX IP and went on a litigation rampage. What few of them mention is that until 1987, MS owned and sold Xenix. SCO ported the OS to Intel's early x86 chips, and licensed the right to sell it, but they didn't own it until 8 years after the company was founded.
Of course, the MS of the 80s was a very different company from the giant it has become.
Re:FUD parade continues on... (Score:3, Informative)
Sounds like you are doing something wrong. Their centralized policy management is crap, I say this as someone who used to work on that side of the IT world.
Re:What if.. (Score:2, Informative)
FTFY