Novell,MS and Xen

Jeffry Smith jsmith at alum.mit.edu
Mon Nov 13 08:22:43 EST 2006


On 11/13/06, Bill Sconce <sconce at in-spec-inc.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:54:11 +0300
> "Jeffry Smith" <jsmith at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
> > On 11/11/06, Bruce Dawson <jbd at codemeta.com> wrote:
> > > Not to throw cold water on these well-fanned flames but...
> > >
> > > Prediction: Microsoft will buy Novell/SUSE or otherwise acquire all the
> > > Unix IP and try to litigate Linux/Unix out of business. Then it will
> > > turn its lawyer cannons on the GPL.
> > >
> >
> > Only one problem - I doubt Novell owns all the Unix copyrights.
>
>
> And SCO didn't own Unix copyrights either.
>
> SCO's lawsuits are not, and were never, likely to prevail.  But lack
> of basis didn't stop lawsuits from happening.  As long as money has
> continued to be available there has been continuing court action,
> and continuing FUD in the press which *ahem* somebody may have found
> convenient.
>
> (True, harassment/FUD lawsuits cost big money.  But that didn't stop
> SCO.  They were even able to find investors to pitch in and help...)

And the effect on linux growth has been?  I see how well it has
stopped Linux growth - why no one uses it, and GNHLUG is moving to
Windows Vista :-)

On 11/12/06, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:
> You're assuming any "intellectual property" that Linux might
> "violate" is from the original Unix source.  Linux is largely new
> code, and there are plenty of new ideas in it.

For the purpose of MS buying Novell - yes.  Certainly MS can sue over
patents they may hold now, but they don't need to by Novell to do that
(what this reply started on).

In fact, I believe OSDL has calculated that about 283 patents "MAY"
have something to do with Linux (it depends on if they're valid
patents, etc).

jeff



jeff


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