On 03/03/10 18:13, Fred A. Miller wrote:
Many of you don't read the off-topic list, so I'll post this here because of it's importance.
Fred
A five year deal with Microsoft to dump Novell/SUSE Nov 08, 2006 By Nicholas Petreley <http://www.linuxjournal.com/user/801587> <================XX Wake up little SUSE, Wake up. No, that's not good enough. Wake up SUSE customers, wake up. Novell is jeopardizing the future of Linux for its own short-term rewards. If you want to see Linux flourish, let alone survive after Novell's five year deal with Microsoft expires, I suggest we make an alternative five year deal with Microsoft. In this case, our part of the deal is to spend the next five minutes, months, or years migrating away from every shred of Novell/SUSE software in our home, office, or enterprise. The controversial agreement between Microsoft and Novell stinks to high heaven. Look, for example, at the contradictory statements. Take this quote from the Novell FAQ on the agreement <http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/faq_opensource.html>: Novell makes no admission that its Linux and open source offerings infringe on any other parties' patents. How does that jibe with the following quote from Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith? "We addressed the proprietary issues through the net up-front payment. The open-source we addressed through the percentage of revenue." The "percentage of revenue" to which Brad Smith is referring is Novell's payment to Microsoft so that Microsoft will not sue SUSE customers for patent infringement. Wait. Didn't we just read that no such infringements exist? If Novell is paying Microsoft a percentage of its revenue from sales of SUSE Linux as part of a covenant from Microsoft not to sue SUSE customers for patent infringement in open source code, then is this not a tacit admission that Novell's Linux and open source offerings infringe on other parties' patents, particularly Microsoft's patents? How can one interpret this any other way? Why would Novell pay Microsoft not to sue its customers over patent infrigements Novell says do not exist? http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000121 -- A boiled egg is hard to beat. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org