MS & Novell sign deal to support SuSE linux?

[vivman1107]

There is, of course, the other question of where the patent was issued. Many Linux distros have roots in other countries so would that make them exempt from any possible lawsuits?

[disciple]

for real. eh... though
(1) two of the three main proponents of 'business' linux are US based ( Novell, Red Hat)
(2)  even if the distro based in another country where patent isn't held by ms, if a US based company were to use it, they prob will be liable  to be sued

[W1nTry]

Hmm

Linux movement destroys Ballmer's dream

Microsoft and Novell deal in trouble

By Nick Farrell: Thursday 23 November 2006, 07:11
Click here to find out more!
MICROSOFT'S cunning plan to be the ruler of Linux has hit a slight snag.

Its Linux ally Novell is not going along with its plans to force Linux distributors to join its approved partners, pay up or be sued and the Open Sauce community has a counter attack planned.

According to ZD Net, Eben Moglen, who is designing the next version of the GNU Public License GPL v3, says that the Free Software Foundation's next draft includes a new clause where those agreeing to it will not sue anyone else.

This automatically applies to everyone using the new licence and means that if Vole does not cancel its pact, it would end up automatically indemnifying all GNU vendors and users.

However, changes to the GPL will not fix any patent problems with Linux which is stuck in GPL v2 because a lot of Linux developers, including Linus Torvalds, don't like the strongly worded anti-DRM clauses.

If the two sides can kiss and make up then the new licence will make Microsoft's plan history. A few weeks ago if you had suggested that the two sides would bury the hatchet people would have laughed.

But it seems that Volish machinations could force the two sides together for the survival of the operating system. This is something that we bet Ballmer was not planning.

Another winner will be Novell which has cashed a patent cheque for several million dollars that will buy Microsoft practically nothing.

More here. µ

[Prowl]

The real problem now is ati and nvidia getting their drivers to work on xorg 7.2 and the new linux kernal. Until this happenes we won't get full use out of wine or cedega.

BTE SUSE 10.2 is almost out, RC1 works SWEET save for those drivers.

[disciple]

7.2 out already??
*scratches head*

nah but therein lies the problem with closed source.. we gonna get the functionality when they good and ready to give it to us, and not a second before..
sigh

[Prowl]

YA! both nvidia and ati need to opensource the drivers! 

BTW did I tell ya 10.2 rocks

except for the driver problems

[W1nTry]

This can't be good:

Novell tells OpenOffice to fork off

Fruits of Microsoft collaboration

By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 05 December 2006, 09:23
Job search
Top INQ jobs
eLearning Designer/Developer, Bristol
Solutions Engineer, Hemel Hempstead
Test Manager, Newbury
Technical Support Analyst, Hammersmith
Test Data Analyst, London
Search for a job: 
Job search
NOVELL HAS announced more fruit from its Microsoft collaboration. It is planning to fork off OpenOffice so that it supports Vole's Open XML.

According to Groklaw, the software will still default to the Open Document Format but seems to have subheadings that point to OpenXML.

Groklaw seems to think it is getting clearer what Microsoft has got out of its licensing deal with Novell.

Volish sales people can now tell corporate customers that they do not need to switch to Linux to run the Open Document Format which is being demanded by various US government bodies, Groklaw says.

More here. µ

[disciple]

sigh.

(1) novell has always had their own novell branded version of open office, from what i remember ,so this is nothing new... (suse users, can you confirm?)
they added ONE feature.. they did not fork...


(2)  i read that the plugin is going to be open source.. what license, i don't know.

(3) open office's ODF will still be the default..  they just have support for OpenXML..  why is this a bad thing?  you get tons of documents from ms office users all the time. finally, there aren't any more formatting issues..  again.. why is this a bad thing?

(4)from what i understand, the US governments requested an open document standard, not  ODF in particular.. since OpenXML was open anyway, this is moot

(5) there already exists a windows version of open office that supports ODF .. open office is not linux only.. so groklaw's argument that 'it is telling people they don't have to switch to linux to run ODF' is complete and utter ballz

[W1nTry]

I think the idea here is, if you give MS an inch... they'll find a way to take ur @$$ for a few miles, steal your shoes and leave you to make fancy white coloured audio devices XD

[disciple]

yeh fair enough.. ms has shafted everyone, from ibm and apple, to the average joe on the street.
this is known far and wide..

 but groklaw's sensationalising  eh really helpin the cause either.. is a generous  amount of FUDD they spreading, to the detriment of the comunity, not just novell

[TinyGrasshopper]

Novell always had their own branded version of OpenOffice but it was a derivative thing more branding than anything else. I didn't know they were forking either. I they were going to submit as part of Open Office. hmm. That's what I would prefer.

[disciple]

see, thas wah i mean...

they not forkin; just inquirer and  groklaw spreadin fudd

they ARE going to merge their code into regular openoffice

The translators will be bidirectional: OpenOffice.org users will be able to read from and save to Office Open XML documents. At first, the translators will be made available as plug-ins for Novell's branded OpenOffice.org, but the Linux vendor says it will release the source code and submit it for inclusion in the OpenOffice.org product.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061204-8350.html

[TinyGrasshopper]

I hope this doesn't mean that from now on any time Novell contributes something cool, there's gonna be a bunch of news items, and speculation.

[Prowl]

Read the real deal

One of the major contributors to the leading open source alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite announced early this morning it will be offering additions to OpenOffice enabling it to support Office 2007's new XML-based Office Open XML format, not as the default, but as an alternative for reading and writing .DOCX files.

For its share of this morning's statement, Microsoft began referring to its suite's format without the word "Office," using instead the designation "Ecma Open XML." Last Wednesday, a version of that format was submitted for general approval by the ECMA standards organization - the same one which helped Microsoft institute its version of Netscape's JavaScript as a standard. A vote on approval of Ecma Open XML is scheduled for this Thursday, and today's announcement of Novell's support most likely all but assures its passage.

In order to make OpenOffice -- not really a Novell-branded product -- support Office (Ecma) Open XML, it plans to release the code for "translators" for .DOCX into the open source community next month, most likely through the OpenOffice.org Web site. Translators for other Office 2007 default formats will follow soon thereafter.

Novell CTO Nat Friedman this morning acknowledged that it will continue to support OpenDocument Format (ODF) as OpenOffice's default "because it provides customer choice and flexibility."

But with ECMA adoption of Ecma Open XML now likely, with the format enjoying support among the world's top three word processors (Corel WordPerfect being #2), and with its next step probably being worldwide adoption by the International Standards Organization, this and other key arguments for ODF are finding the rug pulled out from under them. By the end of this week, Office 2007's default formats may no longer be "owned" by Microsoft.

As ECMA President and CEO John Venator wrote last Wednesday, "Our members believe that approval of Open XML by ECMA as an open standard will be a key advancement to the IT industry and provide critically needed choice in the document format space allowing for greater vendor independence and reduced lock-in...The approval of Open XML by ISO will enhance the choices available to public agencies and provide significant benefits including cost savings to their constituents."

"OpenOffice.org is very important to Novell," added Friedman, "and as our customers deploy Linux desktops across their organizations, they're telling us that sharing documents between OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office is a must-have." Microsoft's business division vice president Chris Caposella this morning acknowledged Novell's contribution to (Office) Open XML.

Suddenly the landscape looks very different, as by the end of this week, the world's most widely distributed and supported document format will at last be an open standard...but it won't be ODF.

[Prowl]

even more!!!

When it became clear that SCO wouldn’t prevail, Microsoft expected only to face close partner IBM. Microsoft did not brace for Novell, an adversary with a decades-long score to settle with Redmond. Through discovery, Microsoft’s correspondence with SCO is, or soon will be in, Novell’s hands, and it’s a safe bet that it will contain more than demand for a license fee and a copy of a certified check....Microsoft will be bringing Novell along on sales calls, which is somewhat like a punished teenager agreeing to bring her dad with her on future dates....This is all conjecture, of course, but two absolute truths remain: Payback is, indeed, a b****, and Microsoft is entitled to a share. And at present, it sucks to be Steve Ballmer.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/12/13/51OPcurve_1.html