Re: [school-discuss] Fwd: A Landmark Announcement

["àààààààââ|Praveen" <pravi.a@xxxxxxxxx>]

2006/11/7, Michael Bendorf <bendorfm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

So, I'm sure that some on this list run a Novell network (as we do at Carlinville CUSD#1).
I am in wanting of comments/questions/concerns/opinions on this.

Novell-Microsoft: What They Aren't Telling You
By Bruce Perens

"There are two significant announcements. First, that Novell and Microsoft are entering into a patent cross-license, and second, that Microsoft is promising not to assert its patents against individual non-commercial developers. The bad part is that this sets Mirosoft up to assert its patents against all commercial Open Source users. There are also some little bonuses for Microsoft, like Novell will help Microsoft turn back the Open Document Format and substitute something Microsoft controls.

When we say "commercial", it's interesting to note that there are really few non-commercial users: people who only use their computer for a hobby. Buying something on a web site, for example, is a commercial use. Most individuals use their computers in some aspect of making their livelihood. There will now be a Microsoft-approved path for such people to make use of Open Source, an expensive subscription to Novell SuSe Linux that costs as much or more than Microsoft Windows and that comes with a patent license."

Full article at http://technocrat.net/d/2006/11/2/9945

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