Microsoft/Novell Deal Could Create Two-Tier Linux Market

Rob writes writes to mention a Computer Business Review article about the recent Microsoft/Novell Linux deal. Article author Matthew Aslet warns that while some may see the announcement as a step forward, it may ultimately be very divisive for the Linux community. From the article: "Microsoft made it clear that only SUSE users and developers, as well as unsalaried Linux developers, are protected. 'Let me be clear about one thing, we don't license our intellectual property to Linux because of the way Linux licensing GPL framework works, that's not really a possibility,' said Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer. 'Novell is actually just a proxy for its customers, and it's only for its customers,' he added. 'This does not apply to any forms of Linux other than Novell's SUSE Linux. And if people want to have peace and interoperability, they'll look at Novell's SUSE Linux. If they make other choices, they have all of the compliance and intellectual property issues that are associated with that.'"

Comments

Bill + Steve

[Harmonious Botch]

Bill: I'm worried, Steve. We're losing more ground to Linux. It's on the verge of becoming a non-nerd OS.

Steve: I've got an idea. Let's buy another version of Linux.

Bill: Are you crazy? The SCO gambit didn't fool anybody.

Steve: No, not like that. Instead of trying to fool a judge, we'll try to fool our customers.

Bill: So? That's already company policy.

Steve: Yes, but we'll release our own version. We tell the public that we're joining the Linux bandwagon, and with our marketing clout, it will soon become the dominant version on the market. Then when the public is convinced that MSLinux IS Linux, we make gradual changes to turn it into an unusable bloated wreck. Linux will be finished!

Bill: No way! Remember, Steve, I used to write software. No self-respecting programmer would deliberately wreck an OS. Where are we going to get a bunch of programmers to do that?

Steve: We have all the guys who wrote Vista. I think they could do it.

Re:Bill + Steve

[Anonymous Coward]

>Total myth. bg knows what lines of code look like on a piece of paper, and that's pretty much it. He hasn't ever coded anything to functional completion.

Don't lie! It didn't look good. It wasn't fun. But it did get finished.

Re:Bill + Steve

[just_forget_it]

Didn't Bill Gates write "Nibbles" or something?

Re:Bad move by Novell

[advocate_one]

Not sure what Novell are thinking of here. Surprised IBM hasn't had something to say...

give them time, they're busy reviving a fresh batch of lawyers from cold storage, then they've got to work out precisely who to let them loose on, Novell and/or Microsoft

Bye Bye Novell

[BeBoxer]

I think experience shows us what happens to companies foolish enough to partner with Microsoft. Oh well. It's been nice knowing you Novell.

Limitations... *sigh*

[rcw-work]

If they make other choices, they have all of the compliance and intellectual property issues that are associated with that.

Dear Microsoft,

How will my baby mulching machine be able to legally interoperate with your software?

This is very important to me and my colleagues, and I would appreciate it if you would address our concerns.

Re:Not kidding

[jacksonj04]

I'm sure the EU have a committee working on it already. After all, the EU directive on cucumbers (Yes, it really does exist: EU Commission Directive 1677/88) runs to 7 pages and more words than the vast majority of significant documents (US Constitution, Magna Carta, Geneva Convention, Treaty of Versailles etc).

Amongst other things, it states that any cucumber with a curvature of more than 10mm per 10cm length cannot be sold as a Class 1 product. Microsoft must have broken something in one of the more obscure directives.