The same as always, to get paid for their intellectual property, instead of giving it away for free like leftist Richard Stallman wants. In this case, Novell has agreed to pay them patent royalties for Linux, while MS tries to sell Novell Linux to their customers. Might not work for Novell though, since most existing Linux users have an unending hatred of Microsoft, and would apparently rather just download stuff from DVD Jon in Amsterdam than worry about properly paying for their IP. Still, there may be enough new interest in Novell to make up for it, only time will tell.
We Linux users, of SUSE and other distributions, are properly paying.
I'd spell it out in more detail, but I've seen your posts here before. No sense wasting my precious keystrokes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^instead of giving it away for free like leftist Richard Stallman wants.^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about like pragmatic Linus Torvalds wants?
You know......... I have to ask.........
Well, let me ask this first. Can you directly answer this question or will you give some answer deserving of a liberal politican or the NYT?
In your opinion, who is furthest to the left?
A. Linus Torvalds.
B. Bill Gates.
C. Steve Jobs.
There is no answer D, those are the only three choices. Nobody is arguing that Stallman is sane.
The same as always, to get paid for their intellectual property^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Uh huh. Anybody who's followed MS' history knows there's more to it than that. SJVN asks the obvious question.
I can't think of a single software company that has ever done well in an alliance with Microsoft. Can you?
Now, I'm sure there's a handful who have. But let's compare the short list vs the long list. SJVN is dead on.
Businesses are the target purchasers, not home computer users.
Businesses are driven much more by the bottom line than by pet juvenile prejudices. Businesses have said they want interoperability between linux and Microsoft applications. That's what this partnership is intended to do.
It's part of the necessary maturing of linux as it becomes an established long-term player in the business market. Microsoft tried but couldn't kill linux. Novell has the best and most comprehensive intellectual property portfolio related to linux (and Unix)--something Red Hat lacks. It only makes sense for Microsoft to strike a posture of detente vis a vis linux through Novell.
That said, Microsoft is demonstrably predatory and Novell will have to keep one eye on it all the time.
Final note: yes, Novell is paying royalties to Microsoft. But Microsoft is also paying royalties to Novell. The royalties pretty much offset each other; Novell may be slightly ahead.
Don't forget, Microsoft agreed to pay royalties to Novell. IOW, Microsoft's products are likely as infringing.
Might not work for Novell though, since most existing Linux users have an unending hatred of Microsoft,
This is mainly about business users, not fringe open source people who are as philosophical about their software as you are.
and would apparently rather just download stuff from DVD Jon in Amsterdam
You have your usual level of knowledge of the subject, but three strikes in one sentence is a first. First, Amsterdam is not in Norway, which is where DVD Jon is from. Second, DVD Jon lives in America now. Third, DVD Jon is now working on proprietary iTunes/iPod interoperability software.