Groklaw is reporting SFLC's Bradley M. Kuhn's Letter to the FOSS Development Community Regarding Microsoft's Patent Promise. The Software Freedom Law Center's CTO Bradley Kuhn has issued a statement regarding the Novell-Microsoft agreements and how they will impact FOSS developers. They have analyzed in particular Microsoft’s Patent Pledge for Non-CompensatedDevelopers and see little value and in fact say it's worse than useless, because it creates an illusion of safety and because it limits severely what that developer is allowed to do with his work: read more
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No, they're not! Yes, they are!
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols responds, Novell is not SCO. Novell is accepting around $350 million dollars from Microsoft to allow Microsoft to indemnify Novell customers from patent infringement claims, which Novell insists is not a problem. Steven, who admins he is not a lawyer, believes he understands the way they thread that needle without violating the GPL. SJV-N notes, “In the long run, Microsoft will shaft Novell. Just ask Stac, Lotus, WordPerfect… oh, wait. Novell is still suing Microsoft for that last one! Could it be that Novell already knows that they're supping with the devil? Why, yes I think they do.”
So, they're taking money for desparate short-term gain, despite knowing long-term liabilities? Aiding Microsoft in spreading the chilling effects of bogeyman legal threats that will damage its Linux business as well as everyone elses? A dangerous game they are playing.
Novell turns to the dark side
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.”
Novell turns to the dark side
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.”
Red Hat responds to Microsoft-Novell "protection" deal
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.
Novell-Microsoft tumult begins
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.”
Microsoft becomes a SuSE reseller?
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.
IE 7 is now an update, not an upgrade?
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.”
IE7 Breaks Older QuickBooks
Over at Shedding Some Light, Rick Schummer blogs IE7 Breaks Older QuickBooks: “I use FireFox as my primary Web browser and really like it… A couple of weeks ago at Southwest Fox I learned a bunch of things about IE7 from Rick Borup. His session got me excited about some of the changes and new features. So I have been looking forward to the automatic update about to hit my machine. Then I accidentally ran across a blog from one of my technical partners about how IE7 breaks QuickBooks Pro. No email from Intuit (they hit me up with lots of offers to upgrade, but I guess this little detail was not that important, or I seriously overlooked it)… I use QuickBooks Pro to manage the accounting books here at White Light Computing. I have used this product for years to keep track of the hours I bill, invoicing, tracking accounts receivables, printing checks to my vendors and subcontractors, and reporting the financials to my wife and our accountant. I use this program all the time. It is almost as important to me on the administrative side of the business as Visual FoxPro is to the technical side of the business.”
Rick goes on to point out some work-arounds to prevent IE from “upgrading” itself and making your accounting system inoperable. Thanks for the tip, Rick!!!
Doug Hennig awarded FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award
On the FoxProWiki, it's noted that FoxProCommunityLifetimeAchievementAward. Editor comments: Doug Hennig gets FPCLAA, the FoxPro Community Lifetime Achievement Award. Terrific pick! Doug deserves the award for all of his contributions: presentations, white papers, his Stonefield software, books, magazine columns, and the software that ships with VFP. Congratulations, Doug!