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Xandros joins Novell in licensing Microsoft IP FUD
by Grant Robertson Jun 5th 2007 at 2:00PM
Few details are available about the deal. Microsoft's SVP of Server and Business tools announced the deal at MS' TechEd2007 conference in Orlando, remarking that "[Xandros has] taken the position of helping customers to ensure that when they use open-source software, the IP the industry has created is a part of that."
Microsoft's quiet backroom deals over Linux IP are making some Linux users nervous, while still others have mused that Microsoft's entire strategy may be nothing more than a Fear and Loathing public relations campaign to scare deep-pocketed corporations away from choosing popular Linux flavours in their datacenters
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd said 2:16PM on 6-05-2007
"...still others have mused that Microsoft's entire strategy may be nothing more than a Fear and Loathing public relations campaign to scare deep-pocketed corporations away from choosing popular Linux flavors in their data centers."
Yes that is part of it, but, it's really a matter of GPL 3.
Note the date of this "last call" for the version three draft and cross reference it with Microsoft's latest round of FUD:
http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl-draft-2007-05-31.html
Prediction - Watch for Ballmer to be on every news channel announcing massive legislation against anyone using Linux ( school, home or professional ) the day after GPL3 is released.
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Peter Kirn said 5:58PM on 6-05-2007
I don't know ... I wouldn't be surprised if part of the motivation for them is reducing their own patent liability. That's just how insane IP law can become -- Microsoft gets patent immunity out of this, too, remember. Look at the Apple precedent; Microsoft really wanted Apple to drop their IP complaints, and Apple (under Jobs, anyway) really did want to get past that so they could go back to supporting their most critical and lucrative Mac developer. And MS may also be misguided enough to think their IP really is somehow infringed. That's not to dispute the obvious FUD motivation, but I don't think it's the whole story.
This isn't news, in that MS already expressed the desire to repeat the deal.
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