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VMware May Violate Linux Copyrights

Posted by Zonk on from the what-about-its-copylefts dept.

Nailer writes "Bloomberg believe VMware's IPO today may the largest technology offering since Google. But doubts have been cast over the company's supposedly proprietary ESX product, as top 10 Linux contributor Christopher Hellwig claims the software may violate Linux kernel copyrights. 'Is Hellwig right, and is VMware a derived product of Linux? Unless vmkernel can be loaded without the Linux kernel, it would appear so. VMware was developed from another, long ago OS created as a research project, but it's unclear whether vmkernel was ported from that OS or rewritten as the Linux-requiring binary blob. What's more of an issue is that VMware had these serious questions posed directly to them a year ago, repeated in a public forum many times since, but have yet to respond at all.'"

4 of 443 comments (clear)

  1. If it cannot be loaded without the linux kernel, by Jailbrekr · · Score: 0, Troll

    then why does the free version run under Windows?

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    Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
  2. Step One.... by UncleTogie · · Score: 1, Troll

    1. Build product using someone else's stable OS.
    2. Offer IPO.
    3. Get scads of cash in to pay off OS licensers and IP lawsuits, and....
    4. ....Profit!

    In short, they just paid off their Mastercard with their Visa card...
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    Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
  3. Re:Help me understand... by Timothy+Brownawell · · Score: 0, Troll

    Maybe someone can help me understand something I'm unclear on: How does one go about creating proprietary software that runs on Linux (the kernel) without "violating the GPL?" Based on the blurb, and many similar stories I've read here over the years, it almost seems like the FOSS community expects every piece of software that is written to run on a Linux platform to be Open Source. If that's the case, why?

    I have seen claims that the only reason Linux userland isn't subjected to GPL by the kernel is that Linus declared a linking exception for things that only talk to the kernel through the standard userland interfaces. Or in other words, some people consider anything written to run on the Linux kernel to be derived from the kernel.

    Unfortunately, the FSF has seen fit to encourage such nonsense, with the "anything that links to this is derived" claims they put in the GPL.

  4. -3 misinformed by rubycodez · · Score: 1, Troll

    you swallowed the vmware marketing and sale crap hook and sinker. the so-called "vmware kernel" runs as a service under linux, and must use Linux API for dealing with the real machine including memory. Linux is the OS in charge of the machine, the drivers for real devices are linux drivers and vmware uses linux virtual memory for the pool of memory it dishes out to the vm.