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Microsoft (Probably) Didn't Just Buy Unix
jfruhlinger writes "Word came down this morning that when Attachmate bought Novell, certain intellectual property rights were sold to a Microsoft-led consortium as part of the deal. Since Unix is the most valuable piece of IP Novell owns, there was a certain amount of panic that suddenly Redmond is in charge of this foundational technology for Linux and a number of other open source projects. But, while MS is being cagey, Brian Proffitt doubts that Unix was part of the IP package that was sold — and believes that Linux would be safe even if it were."
www.groklaw.net. Pamela Jones is the Empress, the rightful dispenser of knowledge on who goeth there regarding Linux, the Law, and the great game called Follow The Money.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Well, just take a look. Novell was one of the companies that invented networking, so they have stuff that probably every modern OS is infringing. Active Directory very probably infringed some of them (that probably was one of the reasons why Microsoft signed a patent agreement with them). Just some examples:
Method and apparatus for network file recovery
Firewall system for quality of service management
Methods, data stores, data structures, and systems for electronic identity
System and method for automically authenticating a user in a distributed network system
Method and apparatus for proxy authentication
Secure intranet access
System and method for synchronizing database information
They even have some UI patents: Method for automatically resizing a child window
And some weird OS functionality Method and apparatus for mapping page table trees into virtual address space
Of course they are stupid, but god knows what can a good lawyer firm do with them.