OSNews links to a Register story: Perens: 'Novell Is the New SCO'. “Often cast as the peacemaker in free software disputes, Bruce Perens is on the warpath. When we caught up with him, he wasn't in a mood to be charitable to Novell.”
“Novell is violating the GPL,” he tells us. “It's up to the Free Software Foundation, which owns the copyright, to pursue this. But the FSF owns the C library and the compiler outright. There isn't much Novell can do without either.”
From the Project RSS Feed for Project subversion“>subversion project comes the news Subversion 1.4.2 released.. “I'm happy to announce Subversion 1.4.2… You can find list of changes between 1.4.2 and earlier versions at: http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/tags/1.4.2/CHANGES ” Sounds cool! Read the notes carefully for some cautions on working with differing versions of the clients and servers. The svnsync feature opens up some interesting opportunities to publish and subscribe, perhaps into a QA or backup repository.
OSNews links to a Register story: Perens: 'Novell Is the New SCO'. “Often cast as the peacemaker in free software disputes, Bruce Perens is on the warpath. When we caught up with him, he wasn't in a mood to be charitable to Novell.”
“Novell is violating the GPL,” he tells us. “It's up to the Free Software Foundation, which owns the copyright, to pursue this. But the FSF owns the C library and the compiler outright. There isn't much Novell can do without either.”
From the Project RSS Feed for Project subversion“>subversion project comes the news Subversion 1.4.2 released.. “I'm happy to announce Subversion 1.4.2… You can find list of changes between 1.4.2 and earlier versions at: http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/tags/1.4.2/CHANGES ” Sounds cool! Read the notes carefully for some cautions on working with differing versions of the clients and servers. The svnsync feature opens up some interesting opportunities to publish and subscribe, perhaps into a QA or backup repository.
InfoWorld reports “ Update: Red Hat spins Novell-Microsoft deal in its favor” with the killer quote “Linux has won.” Linux Watch reports “Red Hat spits on Microsoft/Novell patent assurances” where the Red Hat spokesman points to the several levels of “protection” and “assurance” Red Hat already provides. Over at TechTarget, Jack Loftus is reporting “ Red Hat: We will be here in one year, Novell will not” Haven't we been here before: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt vs. The Facts? It'll be fun watching this play out.
Meanwhile, the Linux Journal staff have selected their Editor's Choice products. A great range of software, some of which I'll have, and some I'll now have to make time to try out.
Anticipate every press outlet will have a lot to say about this:
GrokLaw: “I've collected for you a representative sampling of reactions to the unfortunate Novell-MS alliance. First, my own: this is apparently some kind of a covenant not to sue, not a true cross licensing deal. I think that's how they plan to step over and around the GPL.”
Novell FAQ: “Because open source software is developed in a cooperative environment, some have expressed concerns that intellectual property protections could be compromised more easily in open source. Today's agreement between Novell and Microsoft provides confidence on intellectual property for Novell and Microsoft customers.”
InfoWorld
MaryJo Foley: “Reality check: Microsoft isn't waving the white flag”
Bruce Perens: “The timing of this agreement is significant. Microsoft and Novell are said to have been working on this agreement for some time, and sped up its announcement to take attention away from Oracle's recent announcement and to further depress Red Hat in the stock market… This entire agreement hinges around software patenting – monopolies on ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation – rather than innovation. If we've learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open Source, it's that intellectual property protection – the thing that Open Source dispenses with – actually impedes innovation. And the Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment.”
Wow. There'll be lots more to say about this: Microsoft and Novell made announcements this morning that seem to be a mutual exchange of licenses and patents that means that Novell will pay Microsoft to keep Microsoft from suing them for patent infringment. Microsoft will pay one-millionth of one percent of a loose change account for some support licenses to resell to its customers. Novell can use the money they're owed by SCO that SCO got from Sun and… Microsoft. Novell is playing a very dangerous game. And Oracle's threatening RedHat. Next players to make a move? Watch Sun and IBM.
The Guardian features yet another Google article. Can't get too many of these. Fascinating stuff they're doing. “Giving Google a licence to code: Google's open source chief talks about the joys of Linux, the cost of Windows and his concerns about the new version of the GPL”
Slashdot notes IE7 Released As High-Priority Update. jimbojw writes, “Internet Explorer 7 was finally released this morning and is available via automatic update or download from Microsoft.”