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Microsoft (Probably) Didn't Just Buy Unix

Posted by Soulskill on from the how's-that-for-definitive dept.

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."

4 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. They bought 882 Novell patents; Whither OIN? by ciaran_o_riordan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Novell's 8-K filing says that Microsoft's "CNPT" bought 882 patents.

    * What important patents did Novell have?
    * What happens now to Novell's contribution to OIN?

    Novell contributed some big patent sets to OIN, like the Commerce One e-commerce patents. What's their status now? Did Novell "give/transfer" them to OIN, or did OIN just have a transferable assurance of access to these patents via Novell?

    * http://en.swpat.org/wiki/CPTN_Holdings_LLC
    * http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Novell
    * http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Open_Invention_Network

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  2. Microsoft being cagey by gbjbaanb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    which is exactly what you don't want - if they said "we own it", no-one would believe them until it got to court. If they said "we don't own it", no-one would care.

    But, because they say "maybe", everyone starts to panic and worry, and think the problem is far worse that it ever could be.

  3. Re:Linux IS classified as a form of UNIX though... by king+neckbeard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Dennis Ritchie includes GNU/Linux when speaking of Unix. Just the word 'Unix' is rather ambiguous. I generally use four sets of terms and try to be specific whenever possible:
    1. AT&T UNIX or Bell Labs UNIX. The operating system developed by AT&T/Bell Labs (SysV, Version 7 UNIX)
    2. Genetic UNIX. Any operating system that can trace it's history to AT&T UNIX.
    3. Branded UNIX or SUS. Any operating system that meets the Single Unix Specification and pays the necessary fees.
    4. Unix-like, functional Unix, or *nix. Any operating system that is designed to be have the same functionality and overall design as AT&T UNIX.

    GNU/Linux only meets the terms of functional Unix, but being functional Unix is more important than being branded or genetic Unix in most usage, so it's not uncommon to use Unix just to describe functional Unix.

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  4. Re:What really happened - OIN Emasculated by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have always felt that OIN was a plan to protect the patent system from Open Source, rather than what it should have been.

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    Bruce Perens.