Posted on 06/24/2007 10:05:57 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The trade press reported a lot of rumors this past week about the chances for a patent protection pact between Red Hat and Microsoft similar to the agreements Microsoft negotiated with Novell, Xandros, and Linspire. Red Hat doesn't appear to be interested in the least. Here's why.
First, Red Hat disagrees with Microsoft's assertion that Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property. Spokesperson Leigh Day pointed to a page outlining Red Hat's position on IP infringement, and said, "We continue to believe that open source and the innovation it represents should not be subject to an unsubstantiated tax that lacks transparency."
Microsoft deals are notorious for being of the non-disclosure, non-transparency nature. We likely would not have any details of the Microsoft/Novell deal were it not for the legal requirements for Novell to include them in company financial reporting. No details were forthcoming in a briefing by Microsoft and Xandros following their recent announcement, either.
What is transparent is the message coming out of one side of Microsoft's mouth which tries to convince customers there is a threat of legal action against them should they dare to use Linux and/or open source software without paying Microsoft for the privilege. The biggest unknowns in the Xandros and Linspire deals is how much money Microsoft paid them to bolster that message. Out of the other side, Microsoft denies it will sue anyone for using open source. Unfortunately, nobody has ever seen both sides of Microsoft's mouth in the same room at the same time.
Secondly, Red Hat offers its customers patent protection through its Open Source Assurance program.
(Excerpt) Read more at linux.com ...
fyi
OSS Ping
Im using XP at the moment but the sooner Microshaft gets kicked in the balls the better.
Im tired of their market domination
Im impressed with Ubuntu. They are very close to breaking through
I agree that RH doesn’t need to deal with MS. All these “deals” are nothing more than MS trying to rid the market of other players very gradually.
Any deal needs to be contingent on MS releasing the actual numbers for the patents it claims are being infringed upon this is nothing but polite extortion.
The pragmatic Torvalds always seems to see right through the Stallmanites.
I've been slowly converting all my machines to Ubuntu from various MS platforms.
My desktop is Ubuntu, as well as two test machines. Four of my five servers are Ubuntu-- I still maintain a Win2K3 server for IIS implementations. My laptop is XP (soon to be dual-boot with Ubuntu) to support current MS-based clients.
My wife's machine is on its last MS implementation, and she's been made aware of it. I'm starting to transition her to OpenOffice. Otherwise, she'll be Remote-Desktop-ing into a virtual machine on the Win2K3 server for her MS work.
Ubuntu is a breeze to install and maintain, and I'm certainly not a Linux expert!
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