corp.mandriva.com — Novell, Xandros and Linspire have signed well publicized agreements with Microsoft. Rumors on the Web have hinted that Mandriva might be next on the list. Mandriva believes in interoperability, which must be based on open standards, like ODF. They also believe that software patent threats are just FUD. So no deal with Microsoft from Mandriva.
Jun 19, 2007 View in Crawl 4
praadurJun 19, 2007
I'm glad I jumped on the Ubuntu bandwagon when I did, then.It's good though that we have a number of distros that won't kowtow. I don't really think that any distro should have to recognise marketing might as a part of how it operates anyway, since Linux isn't exactly something which is sold (any money involved usually comes as part of an optional service, rather than as payment for a product).So more power to those three.
agimatJun 19, 2007
lol. sure.
generalloyJun 19, 2007
There are no patent cross-licenses with the GPL, period, and that's a good thing. Is it still free software with patent restrictions? No. Hence the need for MS to release their supposed patents, so they can be coded around if they're actually valid (yes, most people believe they have prior art and obviousness written all over them, which is why they can't release the patent list, otherwise MS's crappy defence goes 'poof'!, as well due to GPLv2 Section 7 liberty or death requirements)You don't threaten the very development model which produced the only viable competitor to Microsoft (yes, even Apple uses Samba, Webkit/KHTML, etc) and call it just another day in the park."Contracts ". Since you mentioned Immersion, let's bring it back to that. They signed a patent agreement with Microsoft with supposedly 25 million going to Immersion, but nestled in that agreement was a clause that gave Microsoft a 1.5 million dollar profit after Immersion settled with Sony. Novell/Xandros/Linspire all signed a deal that, except for Novell, cuts them off from GPLv3 software unless they modify the agreements to be less odious and contrary to the very license that copyright holders let them use and convey the software under.Lesson? In the eternal words of SCOX, "Contracts are what you use against parties you have relationships with."It's very true that MS wants to be safe from patent 'trolls'. They want to live in the free software world, like Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation said. However, GNU/Linux has never had a successful patent lawsuit against it. Check that record out against Microsoft's.PS: Do some research into MP3, LZW, GIF, and see GNU/Linux's responses to patent threats.
Closed AccountJun 19, 2007
yes, this is honey for my ears. first Ubuntu, then Red-Hat and now Mandriva: The Great Wall!!!
rek2Jun 20, 2007
way to go cheers!
spr0k3tJun 20, 2007
Novell and OpenSUSE are failing not from the MS regime, but rather the vehement debacles of their own ranks (just check around their forums and you'll see what I'm saying). That's three of the major distributions to support now. I'd love to see a fork of SUSE, Xandros, and Linspire happen in some way... that would send a big "f**k you" to microsoft. However, the're slowly dieing distros... and many have jumped ship (seen a bunch of new users at other distro forums claiming this facet).
dl036Dec 27, 2007
The interesting thing is that Mandriva is probably the most software patent-conscious Linux distribution available today. Not only does the paid (aprox $50) version of their Linux include paid licenses for the most popular video and audio codecs, but it is the only distribution which includes a fully licensed DVD player which can be used to legally view CSS-encrypted DVDs in the US. Seems they just aren't interested in paying protection money for unspecified patents which may or may not exist.