[Novalug] Novell's FAQ to the Open Source Community

gregory pryzby greg@pryzby.org
Wed Nov 8 10:42:29 EST 2006


On Wed, Nov 08, 2006 at 10:37:26AM -0500, Chris Metzler wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Nov 2006 20:02:47 -0500
> gregory pryzby wrote:
> >
> > http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/faq_opensource.html
> > 
> > Novell answers the big questions, specifically around the GPL.
> 
> Of course, they duck the main worry that their deal with Microsoft has
> fuelled.  To be fair, having given worries about patent litigation a big

Specifically what? Please lay out the question and I will see if I can
get any clarification to put the concerns to bed. 

> boost, they now can't really address it; only Microsoft can.
> Unfortunately, Microsoft has.  Steve Ballmer says:

I am not a lawyer, but I will be happy to comment.

> "Novell is actually just a proxy for its customers, and it's only for its
> customers.  This does not apply to any forms of Linux other than Novell's
> SUSE Linux. And if people want to have peace and interoperability,
> they'll look at Novell's SUSE Linux. If they make other choices, they
> have all of the compliance and intellectual property issues that are
> associated with that." (from Computer Business Review Online on Monday
> the 6th)

GREG PRYZBY comments below do NOT reflect anyone's opinions except his
own. 

I ignore what Steve B says. He has changed his tune in the past and
spoken without knowledge about the subject. I would look to
Microsoft's site and what is posted there and not take w/ SB says. 

The Linux community has maintained the the code is free from patent
infringements. I assume that is still the case. Novell states directly
in the link above that if we find any patent infringements in the GPL
coded we will work to rectify. That remains the same. 

Microsoft's stance has not changed from what I see except that they
say they won't sue users of Novell's Linux distributions. In effect,
Microsoft has narrowed the pool of possible people to sue, if and only
if there is actually patent infringements. 

And to reiterate, the belief is there are no patent infringements and
if that is the case, there is nothing to worry about. At least there
is nothing NEW to worry about.

-- 
greg pryzby                              greg at pryzby dot org
fingerprint: 8A1A DB90 869F 5DD1 D6E9 EEB6 C156 6B04 849F A86F
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