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IBM Weighs In On Novell — Microsoft Deal

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-am-the-atomic-alien-robot-please-give-my-best-wishes-to-everybody dept.

Azul writes "In an interview, Scott Handy, IBM's VP of Worldwide Linux and Open Source, has stated IBM's position on the recent Novell-Microsoft agreement. According to Handy, Novell has been quite clear that they had never agreed that Microsoft had any proof of Microsoft patent violations in Linux." From the article: "'IBM has long supported interoperability between Windows and Linux. As supporters of open source and open standards, we applaud any effort to bridge this gap.' ... Looking ahead, Handy said that despite the outcry in some circles about Novell's deal with Microsoft, IBM will be making 'No change in our partnership with Novell ... IBM has two strategic Linux partners, Red Hat and Novell. This has served us very well for seven-years. Over 90 percent of the Linux server market now belongs to those two companies and the industry has consolidated around those two leaders,' he added."

6 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. At least IBM.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    .. Isn't falling for the FUD and they're standing next to their partners. Given that announcement and what SCO just went through with IBM, maybe this will make Microsoft think twice before pushing the issue..

  2. yes, but define market? by Blymie · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Over 90% of the Linux Server MARKET, eh? Well, first, define server? Is that only a nice IBM piece of hardware, or some other big player piece of hardware? What about SuperMicro, and the middle ground players?

    As well, define market? What part of the marketplace does Debian have? None, really, not if you define marketplace as something you can track via sales.

    I believe these specifications are out of whack. 90%? From where I sit, it's 90% _non_ Redhat or SuSE....

  3. Debian is the second largest GNU/Linux distro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    "Over 90 percent of the Linux server market now belongs to those two companies and the industry has consolidated around those two leaders,' he added."
    From the Netcraft's GNU/Linux distribution share stats:
    RH - 34%,
    Debian - 25%
    Suse - 11 %

    82% of all statistics is made up.
  4. Re:If Deal Offends You, Sign Petition by Bruce Per by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Informative
    That means the GPL text. The point is that the entire GPL, and section 7 in particular, binds the community of people who redistribute the software to stand together against a patent aggressor rather than sell out individually and thus weaken the rest of the community against that aggressor. Novell and Microsoft knew clearly what the spirit of the document was, and crafted a legal fiction of covenants to each other's users that has the same effect as the licenses in order to (maybe) sneak within a hair of the letter. In other words, they engineered a loophole to get around Novell's earlier agreement with the many developers of GPL software in their distribution.

    In short, we feel that Novell has acted in bad faith.

    Bruce
    --
    Bruce Perens.
  5. Re:Please, Stop This by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Nat, rather than being at the forefront of the deal, is the person assigned to spin this to the Free Software community. I'm sure his heart is in the right place. But he has a contract, both for his individual employment and one related to the sale of Ximian. I don't believe he has much choice what to do.

    There are folks in this same deal who aren't as tightly bound, like Jeremy, who is Samba team leader and also a Novell employee. Jeremy disapproved of the deal in public.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  6. Re:Maybe Not.... by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Informative
    Since Eben Moglen seems to think that changes are needed to GPLv3 in order to "prevent this from happening in the future" ... the GPLv2 must not be adequate. Either you are wrong or he is. Who is it?

    I flew to NY to discuss this whole issue with Eben last week. First, the Novell-Microsoft is clearly outside of the spirit of the GPL and thus demonstrates bad faith on Novell's part. Is it within the letter? Novell and Microsoft say so, and obviously took a lot of time to engineer it to just slip within a hair of the letter. I think that Novell and Microsoft would like to drag us into an expensive and ultimately fruitless fight. Rather than take it to court, and spend a lot of money on something that will be ambiguous for years, we will make it very, very clear that this is NOT within either the letter or the spirit of GPL3 and LGPL3. And then a lot of stuff that Novell needs will go under those licenses, and Novell will be stuck with the entire version of maintaining obsolete forks without the help of the community.

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.