OT: Interesting news - what does this mean for RH?

[Phil Meyer]

Steffen Kluge wrote:
> http://www.novell.com/news/press/item.jsp?id=1196
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx
>
> Cheers
> Steffen.
>
Several things here:

Remember the 'cross licensing' deal with SUN that ended the Java 
litigation and enabled .Net?

This is similar, with a clear win for Microsoft.

1. The litigation Novell vs. Microsoft anti competitive WordPerfect is over.
2. The Mono developers and users feel better.
3. Novell gets some much needed short term cash.

What does Microsoft get?

This 'deal' INFERS that Novell agrees with Microsoft that Linux 
infringes Microsoft patents.

This will make it much easier for Microsoft to attack or strongarm other 
Linux distributors.

What do we get?

An 800 pound gorilla with a history a corporate violence with 
Novell/SUSE in its pocket.  Not a good thing at all.

Personally, I hope Novell likes its windfall of short term cash as much 
as SUN did, and I hope it allows them to survive the 6 year duration of 
the agreement.

As for me, my interest in SUSE has vanished, even faster than my 
interest in Solaris did.  I had previous to the SUN agreement installed 
Solaris personally on over 1500 systems of all sizes.  I have not since.

See the more detailed analysis at http://groklaw.net