On 11/23/2010 09:19 PM, David C. Rankin wrote:
The IP issue is what caught my attention as well. (see my reply with to the announcement by Pascal Bleser). It's rare to see someone float a "trial balloon" specifically concerning IP related to acquisition of an open source project.
I'm not so much concerned about OpenSuse. There are other distros out there. But let us assume that some of those patents acquired were for the portions of Unix held by Novell ... Would that have any effect on Linux in general? Pam over at Groklaw has this to say: Quote: No doubt we'll find out in time. It is being reported that what it will get is 882 patents. Blech. How many does Novell own? Is that all of them? If so, will we get to watch Son of SCO, but with patents this time? But keep in mind that the WordPerfect litigation could be in this picture, and I wonder if this could be a kind of deal to tactfully settle it out, with Microsoft paying to end it this way? $450 million isn't a lot, though, so how could it be all of the patents? Nevertheless, selling any patents to Microsoft is like selling your baby to a pedophile in the limited sense that you can reasonably predict what it will do with the acquisition. Novell's CEO is telling "valued customers" in an email that it's a merger agreement, that Novell believes "the transaction is great news for our customers," that all contracts will be honored, and that the IP sale to Linux's sworn enemy "will not impact customers", whatever that means. Not a word about Linux and what it means for SUSE. Not a word to reassure the community. --endquote http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20101122130625952 -- Explain again the part about rm -rf / -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org