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51 Comments
- BrucePerens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Casedot, a number of companies that own software patents, not just Microsoft, could bring suit against Free Software developers, Linux distributions, and you the user. There are so many granted software patents in the U.S. that there isn't really any non-trivial program that doesn't infringe. This problem isn't limited to Open Source, Microsoft gets sued over patents quite a lot, but they are one of the few companies that can afford it. The American Intellectual Property Law Association says that it can cost 3 to 5 Million dollars to defend against one of those suits. So, most people just pay whatever they are asked, regardless of whether the patent is valid or not, because the price of justice is too high. But where does that leave you and I? We can't afford any of this. So, software patents have the power to completely kill Free Software if their owners want to.
Obviously, we need to fix that.
Thanks
Bruce - tallmtt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Reading the signatures is a very encouraging response to a very discouraging event. Having been a Novell supporter and Suse user for several years, I wiped it off my computer and will not encourage anyone else to use it again.
- Chicken001, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9You're an idiot.
OpenSUSE is built on the Open-Source community, THE COMMUNITY built Suse, then Novell sponsored it. The reason why there is a huge fuss is because Novell back-stabbed the very own community who built it. - BrucePerens, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Actually, my letter is a response to the Novell letter of November 20.
- BrucePerens, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Is the letter Open Source? Generally with political writing, it makes sense to ask that people who re-publish it not edit it to make my opinion appear to be different from what I said. This might be less than acceptable as an OSI-approved license :-) But at http://phptr.com/perens you can find a series of 25 books published with Open Source licensing. Hopefully that'll keep you happy for a while :-)
Bruce - PeppermintPig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Maybe I'm alone here, but down with patents!!
- bigtomrodney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Funny htat SUSE was spawned from Slackware and was actually around before Red Hat. So keep your misguided angry-teenager comments to yourself.
- PatrickFisher, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Is the letter open-source?
- dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Dugg and signed. This ***** needs to be stopped.
I think everything Bruce writes is open source, after all he defined the term. - millixaw, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11SuSE isn't even their baby. It was acquired when their own Netware tanked. SuSE is just a rip-off of RedHat anyway. ***** Novell. They're an open sore on the OSS community body and Microsoft is the salt.
- Simon80, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Ubuntu, obviously, until Mark Shuttleworth takes it into the profit-making phase.. (http://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/cancomical-lynchpad)
- xxiao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4letter signed
- BrucePerens, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6It's sending a strong signal to more than just other Linux companies. I get calls from investment banks that follow Novell and Red Hat, for example.
Another part is that this particular letter helps individuals in the community speak out where they'll be heard rather than being buried in the sea of blogs. I wrote the software to do it yesterday using Ruby on Rails, and hope to expand it to do congressional lobbying by zip code, etc. for other Free Software issues. - Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4if the letter was open source
that would make it a wiki - SmartITGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Considering CEO Ron Hovsepian would without hesitation throw his own mom into a wood-chipper for just enough money to buy his morning coffee, I really don't think he gives a rat's ass what anyone is saying about him or Novell in the petition.
He sold his soul for cash, and only his/Novell's shareholders can affect him. - Casedot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Could someone explain how (if at all) this would affect users of different distros such as Ubuntu?
- jsusanka, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4good job Bruce - I hope novell listens - thanks!!!
- stoffe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Signed.
- Revolt25, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4tallmtt I understand, I have used SUSE for many years, I still haven't gave it up yet but I will soon if this continues. I don't even now what distro to use I have used SUSE for so long...
- JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3What cowardice of Novell to allow microsoft to extort them on baseless claims (and refusal to be specific about such claims), allowing microsoft to feel like it has set a precedent that it's software patents are somehow legitimate.
- burke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Digg that guy all the way down to Redmond.
- ramsinks.com, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Good stuff and Dugg
- Aslan72, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/community_open_letter.html
It's Novell's response to the letter. - cynicist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So far Novell hasn't done anything to warrant the negative opinions everyone has been passing around. They are a company like any other and they need money. They've contributed a lot to the community and have stated that if anything comes out of their deal with microsoft, it will be GPL'd.
What is wrong with you people? - burke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2OMG U Look liek teh luze wen yu tpye M$, lol!
Seriously, what's with this? I can't think of many things tackier "Micro$oft." Ugh. It hurt to even type it. - SmartITGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Someone please SHOOT Gates, Ballmer, Hovsepian, McBride and all their lawyers!
These 4 men and their counsel are destroying the US economy through their ***** patents. ...Come to think of it, someone please shoot all those who issue software patents...
What's the US gonna do when no-one wants to touch anything that comes from the US, out of fear of litigation?
Even new trade agreement negotiations with other nations will not force people to buy US goods when people are too afraid of the consequences of doing business with Americans.
I hope in the end there is a massive witch-hunt to lynch these 4 @$$holes that destroyed the American software industry. - somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Software Patent law is so ***** up that it's virtually inevitable that Microsoft patents have been infringed. Here's about five thousand patents that Microsoft have registered;
http://www.patentgenius.com/assignee/MicrosoftCorporation.html - burke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1...but a crushing blow for Linux.
- romana, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1signed and blogged and dugg.
- Hindu_Wardrobe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Hopefully they'll kill each other. Peace at last!
...hey, a girl can dream, right?
Sigh. - pairanoyd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2One word. Betrayed.
- ZeroRaiden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Typo "but Microsoft is incredible unsuccessful in that area, and i think that Novell wants to be into that game too."
I meant "but Microsoft is incredible successful in that area, and i think that Novell wants to be into that game too."
Sorry - 10scjed, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2http://www.boycottnovell.com
- bieber, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3You have to go to Redmond to sign that one with. I recommend draining some of your blood into a plastic bag the day before. Trying to open up a vein to sign the letter with can get a little messy...
- ZeroRaiden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I agree, all it's on the money.
A lot of companies are going to continue using Windows and also are interested in trying out the Linux platform, it's going to be a sunny year for those that gives an "magic" bullet to integrate both platforms.
That's the catch. That's all. Maybe Novell has sold his soul, and maybe it's going to represent the beginning of the death of Novell, but come on, A lot of "specialists" have said that Novell is dead since about at least 10 years, but they still on the move, their IDM suite kicks ass more than Microsoft's option. The problem has been always the marketing, but Microsoft is incredible unsuccessful in that area, and i think that Novell wants to be into that game too. - Garfunkel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I will defend open source to the deaf, as such I just signed.
- Excessive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Signed. It is interesting to note that everybody's comments are same on this regard.
R.I.P Novell. You really deserved it. - SmartITGuy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1There's a simple way to kick Novell in the nuts...
Hurt their sales and profits, and the Stockholders will in turn hurt Novell.
My bets... If Novell doesn't back down or ammend their agreement with MicroSlut, I give Novell 18 months, and they will either cease to exist, or Microsoft will buy them. - SmartITGuy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1And the great news is...
Since stockholders can now take legal action against CEO's, hopefully Novell has shot itself in the foot bad enough that the stockholders end up launching lawsuits against CEO Ron Hovsepian, when their stock value plummets. - Chicken001, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This is absurd. This is a self-fish act that Novell pulled. I sore oath to never support retail software, and this is pushing the limit. I have recently switched from Windows to Linux, and OpenSuse was the first distro I have used. Shortly, I read that OpenSUSE was owned by Novell and I remember that name as a well-respected company. Now, they're self-fish as hell, and because of this, I have switched to Ubuntu and burned all my SUSE cd's. To hell with Novell, how could they back stab the Open-Source community that SUSE it is built upon?! This is like saying, a hockey team wins the cup and the coach is like, "Haha, I've done it. Now i'm rich, i'm going to fire you all, and move this team down south." Novell is doomed. Microsoft is evil.
Or well, here is my 2 cents. I've signed it with that same paragraph. - Toast1185, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Go Microsoft! Their stock is having a nice little upswing on because of the Xbox and all that. But a lot of the business folk are over looking this news. If they can get their hands into linux, it would be great for them!
- lulutv, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1This article is a dupe of the one where MS grants Novell's wish for eternal life, then gets them sentenced to life in prison, isn't it?
- mournsanity, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3This really isn't going to do much to change what Novell and Microsoft did. The money has been paid, hands have been shook, and ink has been penned. I don't think a bunch of signatures is going to do much to change the situation.
However, what this will do is send a strong warning to any other companies considering backstabbing the community that we won't stand for such insidious tactics, and for that reason, I hope this letter is flooded with signatures. - burke, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Sabayon is to Gentoo what Ubuntu is to Debian. Check it out.
- slackprad, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1so, you're using windows now?
- daftman, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0What about m$ patent for double-click ? As far as I know gnome uses double-click as default.
Shouldn't we scour the patent database for m$ and try to remove them? - jas168, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I think Microsoft's move is ingenius on their part.
I have to say, as much as Linux/SUSE users should hate this move, it was the move MS shouldn't have waited so long to make. Perhaps it's at a really strategic point in time with Vista coming, Microsoft wants to make sure that future growth in Linux is under control... Linux wasn't much of a contender at the release of XP. - Xilon, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Debian. It's Ubuntu without the Bloat... or should I say Ubuntu is Debian with bloat?
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