[SLL] Save Novell!

[Jay Scherrer]

I am sure this question has been asked before.
But if Microsoft is making deals with several Linux and now Debian 
distributors. Wouldn't this actually be releasing any of the non 
agreeing distributors as well? If Microsoft had claimed "helloworld.c" 
is free from any litigation for Novell, Wouldn't it also be free from 
litigation for Knoppix as well? One might have the argument that 
Microsoft could claim this because of the agreed collaboration. Once you 
dig into the sources one can see the initial collaboration between all 
of the free and open sourced distributions.

Where SCO was using public announcements to boost their stock prices it 
sounds as if Microsoft is using direct contact. Trying not to unravel as 
many investors that might see the correlation of SCO's outcome and of 
Microsoft's.

Jay Scherrer

Russell Evans wrote:
> On Fri, 1 Jun 2007 06:51:20 -0700
> "Francois Caen" <frcaen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> I just realized something:
>> Novell has a $15M/qtr Linux business.
>> RH is a $111M/qtr company that does just Linux.
>>
>> That means that RH is about 10 times the Linux company that Novell is.
>>
>> Hum...
>>     
>
> Something new to think about
>
> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6188254.html
> 	Microsoft and Linux distributor Xandros announced on Monday 
> 	a technical and legal collaboration, the latest step in the 
> 	software giant's ongoing program to partner with open-source 
> 	companies.
>
> 	Over the next five years, the two companies said, they will
> 	work on improving interoperability between their servers to 
> 	improve systems management.
>
> 	The pact calls for Microsoft to provide patent covenants for 
> 	Xandros customers that ensure they are not infringing on 
> 	Microsoft's intellectual property, according to the companies.
>
>
> As a Debian based distribution, I can see this causing some issues in the community. Debian has to be the most ideological and closest to "Free" as any distribution can be. 
>
> I don't understand licensing, but I would think that Debian maintainer patches could be gpl v3ed very quickly, quickly verses all the projects that make up a distribution moving to gpl v3 at the project level. I also think most packages in Debian are patched by/for Debian, part of the reason it takes so long for a new Debian version to come out, so this possible would be effective in killing the deal. I don't know, maybe you can't mix the licenses this way?
>
> Maybe this will just push most projects to adopt gpl v3? Interesting times we live in.
>
>
> Thank you
> Russell
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