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Groklaw Explains Microsoft and the GPLv3
A Groklaw Reader writes "After all the questions about how the GPLv3 will or won't apply to Microsoft following Microsoft's declaration that they weren't bound by it, PJ of Groklaw wrote this story about how and why the GPLv3 will apply to Microsoft. Specifically, it covers in what ways Microsoft would convey GPLv3 software under the Novell agreement, and how Microsoft's refusal to allow previously sold vouchers to be redeemed for GPLv3 software would impact that agreement. Given that Novell has said that they will distribute GPLv3 software, Microsoft may have had the tables turned on them already."
Europe found Microsoft guilty of anti-trust violations and made Microsoft release a version of Windows without Media Player, to which they complied. The EU also made Microsoft pay a half-billion dollar fine, which hurts no matter who you are. They have had to pay further fines as the EU has declared Microsoft hasn't done enough for interoperability, and forced Microsoft to release source code.
It sure seems to me that the EU has been hitting Microsoft pretty hard.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Otherwise, who are we really expecting to take Microsoft to court?
Isn't this the patent enforceability clause? Basically, this isn't about making Microsoft do anything, it's about defending people should Microsoft sue them for patent infringement - i.e. Microsoft have inadvertently indemnified everybody through their distribution deal with Novell. Nobody's looking to sue Microsoft.
Except for all the software in SLES that was "GPLv2 or any later version"; except the fact that the FSF already had GPLv3 Draft 2 printed up? Except for the fact the contract at Groklaw and the coupons refer to a product known as "SLES" and _updates_ for the software, and that the coupons MSFT sold and got revenue from have no expiry date? Yes, it is certainly negligence on the part. Best scenario: MSFT renounces the patent deal and LEAVES the GNU/Linux revenue stream as long as they don't want to comply with the GPL. That will certainly get them into compliance. Anyway you're wrong about GPLv3 btw, Samba's already GPLv3, GNU tools, several other Linux apps, etc.
Microsoft only has to bundle 3.0.xx releases which aren't GPLv3. Are the 3.2 GPLv3 releases even out yet?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
The above line is there to note that, due to how taxes work in the US, the US Amazon site does not have tax as part of its item prices.-- Amazon.co.uk
Whereas the UK site includes the UK VAT of 17.5% for software.
So... £184.98 = 1.175 x price... divide both sides by 1.175... the price is actually £157.43 ($317.32)
So, while the gap is still large (around $100), it's not nearly as large as you originally made it out to be (around $155).
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
You forget that Eben Moglen, a professor of law at Columbia University and general counsel for the FSF read the Novell / Microsoft agreements and drafted the GPLv3 with them in mind with the intent to undo the damage the discriminatory software patent agreements cause.
Given that he believes Microsoft is in trouble and that Microsoft *actually took notice* of the GPLv3 enough to issue an announcement, I'll have to say that while it's probably a thorny legal question, it's nowhere near as one-sided as you make it out to be.
Eben, BTW, is pretty much the foremost legal expert on the GPL. You know, having helped draft it and all. And it's not like PJ doesn't talk with lawyers about her posts. You know, like Eben...
But what the hell do I know? I just post snarky comments on Slashdot... like you do.
The FSF is doing no such thing.
GPLv3 is simply new terms on distributing FSF software in the future. There may be no way for Microsoft to honor the vouchers they've distributed, avoid the new GPLv3 terms, *and* not infringe copyright - but that doesn't mean the FSF is altering any agreements retroactively, they're simply changing the terms of the license that they are offering their future work under. Microsoft shouldn't have assumed that the FSF would continue to offer their new software under GPLv2.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Under US copyright law, Microsoft can buy Linux CD/DVDs from any legal distributor (in this case, Novell) and sell it to others without ever agreeing to the GPL3.
See: Title 17 Section 109 Limitations on exclusive rights: Effect of transfer of particular copy or phonorecord.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
> Microsoft aren't selling "Download Credits". They are selling patent licenses for patents that might (Your Interpretation May Vary) otherwise be infringed by the Linux.
No, that's exactly what they've sold! The SLES vouchers are redeemed for Suse Linux and a year of support / updates per the article.
And thanks to the grandfather clause in the GPLv3, Novell is allowed to distribute the software, but Microsoft can no longer be discriminatory in who it sues with its software patents.
So my analogy was correct, you just don't understand the situation. Not that I expect anyone to read TFA around here, but it does make that clear, you know!