[A2k] Red Hat couches Microsoft-Novell pact as a Linux win

[Malini Aisola]

"As the software maker endures a tough week, open-source experts
question whether the deal would violate the GPL."

http://news.com.com/Red+Hat+couches+Microsoft-Novell+pact+as+a+Linux+win/2100-7344_3-6132323.html


  Red Hat couches Microsoft-Novell pact as a Linux win

November 3, 2006
By Richard Thurston <http://news.com.com/2040-1096_3-0.html?tag=byline>
and Graeme Wearden
<mailto:graeme.wearden@cnet.com?subject=FEEDBACK:Red%20Hat%20couches%20Microsoft-Novell%20pact%20as%20a%20Linux%20win>


*Red Hat moved quickly on Friday to pour cold water on fellow Linux
software maker Novell's partnership with Microsoft.*

It published a response on its Web site within hours of the agreement
between Microsoft and Novell, proclaiming that the deal was a victory
for Linux rather than just Novell. Red Hat also distanced itself from
the possibility that it might strike a similar deal with Microsoft.

On Thursday evening, Microsoft struck an alliance with Novell
<http://news.com.com/Microsoft+makes+Linux+pact+with+Novell/2100-1016_3-6132119.html?tag=nl>,
saying it would promote Novell's Suse Linux portfolio for businesses
that want an environment that mixes Microsoft's proprietary software
with open-source software. The two companies are also due to work
together on virtualization, Web services and open-source document formats.

"(The partnership) means Linux has won...Open-source innovation delivers
better software and better value," Red Hat said in its response
statement. "Openly defined standards create interoperability everyone
can implement. It doesn't require a deal between two companies."

Answering the question of whether it considered a similar patent deal
with Microsoft, Red Hat answered, "An innovation tax is unthinkable.
Free and open-source software provides the necessary environment for
true innovation."

Red Hat has experienced a tough week, with the Microsoft-Novell
announcement following hot on the heels of Oracle's Linux launch, which
will see Oracle selling support to Red Hat's customers
<http://news.com.com/Oracle+has+yet+to+prove+Linux+cred/2100-7344_3-6130071.html?tag=nl>--charging
less than half of Red Hat's list prices
<http://news.com.com/Oracle+to+offer+Red+Hat+Linux+support/2100-7344_3-6129544.html?tag=nl>--and
also offering its own free clone of the open-source operating system.

Others industry watchers were concerned about the Microsoft-Novell
alliance. Eben Moglen
<http://news.com.com/Defender+of+the+GPL/2008-1082_3-6028495.html?tag=nl>,
the attorney for the Free Software Foundation, which oversees the
General Public License, told CNET News.com that the deal could conflict
with a provision in the GPL.

"If you make an agreement which requires you to pay a royalty to anyone
for the right to distribute GPL software, you may not distribute it
under the GPL," Moglen said. Whether the partnership precludes Novell
from distributing Linux depends on the precise terms of its agreement
with Microsoft, he said.

Bruce Perens
<http://news.com.com/The+open-source+patent+conundrum/2010-1071_3-5557340.html?tag=nl>,
creator of the Open Source Definition
<http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FOpen_Source_Definition&siteId=3&oId=2100-7344-6132323&ontId=1001&lop=nl.ex>,
had a similar take.

"One of the questions yet to be settled is whether Novell will violate
the GPL, the license of the Linux kernel and other open-source software,
by offering patent protection that is exclusive to Novell customers,"
Perens wrote in a blog posting.

Legal Web site Groklaw was even more cynical.

"Excuse me while I go throw up," wrote Groklaw's founder, Pamela Jones.
"I gather Microsoft no longer thinks Linux is a cancer or communism. Now
it just wants a patent royalty from it. Wasn't that kinda SCO's dream at
first
<http://news.com.com/SCO+sues+Big+Blue+over+Unix%2C+Linux/2100-1016_3-991464.html?tag=nl>?"


Jones continued, "I hate to break it to Ballmer, but Suse Linux is GPL
code, which the two parties may find puts a little pebble in the shoe of
this alliance."

Chris Papayianni, Novell's general manager for Europe, wasn't able to
comment on the claims that Novell risks violating the GPL. He did say,
however, that the deal would give Novell a significant boost in the U.K.
marketplace.

"We're looking to expand the footprint of Linux through this deal with
Microsoft," Papayianni said. "It will allow very strong interoperability
with the Windows environment."

Papayianni added that the deal will give Novell a competitive advantage
against other Linux vendors. "Our customers want better consolidation of
server usage. One U.K. customer has huge power bills for his data
center. Fewer servers need less power. This makes us very strong in the
data center market and gives us a powerful differentiator."

/
/

--

Malini Aisola

malini.aisola@cptech.org

www.cptech.org


Consumer Project on Technology

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