Microsoft's been announcing partnerships with Linux distributors left and right over the last few months. First, the company reached an agreement to share intellectual property with Novell, then Xandros, and most recently Linspire.That's led many to wonder whether Microsoft would be partnering with Canonical anytime soon. Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, fast becoming one of the most popular Linux distributions, especially among newer Linux users. But while Ubuntu could certainly benefit from improved interoperability with Microsoft programs like Windows Media Player and Office, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth says it just ain't going to happen. Not yet, anyway.
In a nutshell, Shuttleworth says that he has not intention of caving in to Microsoft's threatened lawsuits against the open source community. And while he supports any efforts Microsoft makes towards allowing proprietary software to run better on Linux, he doesn't really believe the company is committed to open standards. He doesn't rule out working with Microsoft in the future, but Shuttleworth sees no reason to do so now.
And here's a key point. Since Microsoft is working with Novell, Xandros, and Linspire, there's every reason to think that the entire Linux community will benefit. Any changes that are made to open source software will by definition be available to all developers, and could therefore be included in future Ubuntu releases.
[via CNet]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-18-2007 @ 9:21PM
Calvin said...
Woot! Way to go Ubuntu!!! Linux FTW!
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6-19-2007 @ 7:46AM
srenehan said...
As there is absolutely no threat of a lawsuit from anyone on Microsoft's side of things, it seems to be Ubuntu is using this as an appeal to Linux fan boys most of whome are traditionally against Ubuntu's casual approach to security, and, well, general ease of useness.
At the same time, their outright refusal to work with Microsoft at all seems to tell me that the single best chance of a USEABLE Linux Desktop alternative is willing to pander to it's extremist roots rather then trying to make things more usable for the average user.
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6-19-2007 @ 10:09PM
flymolo said...
I'm glad they didn't cave. This is important, because the patent peace deals hurt the development communities. Even though Ubuntu is a more end user focused distribution, they rely on the open source community, including their own part of it. Many open source developers don't want their hard work beholden to Microsoft, and will contribute to distros that won't sign patent peace deals. Canonical is willing to work with Microsoft on interoperability, but not at the price of the community that helped them get where they are.
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6-20-2007 @ 7:45AM
Colin said...
@srenehan
No offense, but think before you comment. I would refute your comment, but it's way to scattered: Canonical's approach is too lazy and mainstream, so the best bet is to target the fringes?
As always, any competitive platform needs to simply target the low-hanging fruit: secretaries and gamers.
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