On 25/11/2010 07:32, jsa wrote:
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
Have you seen this? Groklaw accused of censorship To my mind, Groklaw <http://www.groklaw.net> is one of the indispensable sites in open source. Just don’t get on Pamela Jones’ bad side. (I’m afraid I just did.) When I took this beat, back when the /SCO vs. IBM/ case was in full flower, Groklaw was always on top of the story. Sometimes I disagreed with it, but I saw it as unbiased, authoritative and credible. There have always been those who claimed the opposite <http://linux-blog.org/groklaw-and-censorship/>, starting with SCO management. The mysterious Pamela Jones <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Jones> — never seen, a self-described paralegal, signing everything PJ, but with a detective’s instincts, a librarian’s access to research materials, and a litigator’s sharp tongue — added spice and mystery. If you’re a legal geek, Groklaw is delicious enough to be practically pornographic. But now several people have come forward with separate claims of Groklaw censoring their comments, and Florian Mueller has posted examples of the practice at Scribd. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/43344245/10-11-19-Groklaw-Censorship-Evidence> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/groklaw-accused-of-censorship/7826 BC -- ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning? WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org