Linux Journal columnist Nicholas Petreley says the Novell-Microsoft deal "stinks to high heaven." Why? Petreley says Novell is paying MS a percentage of its revenues to stave off patent infringement issues.
This pre-supposes that Novell/SUSE Linux is infringing on MS patents. If so, this may be a serious situation for all distributions of Linux. Petreley says he isn't sure if Novell is just taking a page from the MS playbook and spreading a little fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Still, why pay MS anything if your distribution is not infringing?
I don't know the real reason(s) behind the deal. I have heard it go the other way where MS supposedly had its own patent problems and needed to cover itself by making a deal with Novell. So, who is right?
I don't know. Maybe both versions are wrong. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.
Aloha!
