our newest Ally ...Microsoft?

[techieMoe]

OK I truly am a cynical and skeptical old goat. I sense nothing but multiple Shaftings coming. I have a scaled down windows and a Suse 10 operating systems now upon my computer. I have a set of Ubuntu disks ready to replace the both of them, if need be. This whole thing smells very bad to me, very bad!!

I'm not exactly Mr. Sunshine either, but my only reaction to this is..."Meh." There's nothing really that Microsoft or Novell can do to threaten Linux unless they somehow invalidate the GPL. I don't see this as anything but a "cover our ass" kind of partnership similar to what IBM did with their patents. Although it's good to hear that Microsoft is publicly announcing that they won't litigate, I'm going to sit back and wait to see if this deal produces any real fruit.

[deanlinkous]

groklaw is not happy

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...61102175508403

[bigtomrodney]

I don't think this will lead to any questioning of the GPL. I think Microsoft they can't really fight Linux/FOSS on this level and they know that. The code is out.

They also know that siding with a Linux distro will work for them in a lot of ways, everything from image improvement to protection racket to antitrust protection to controlling the competitor market to anything else you can think of. I think we will see good things out of this but I do have a mistrust.

Ultimately Microsoft area business. That could mean they know they need to play nice, or it could mean they are hardballing right now. We'll just have to wait and see.

One last thought comes to mind - Let's say this was formulated over the last month or so...That puts it in line with around the time the SCO case fell on its face. And we all know Microsoft pumped funding into that through Baystar. I'll leave conclusions to yourselves.

[fingal]

I think this news could mean anything, and we have to wait a while to let things pan out. It's just too difficult to dig through the corporate-speak to the real-world.

I agree 100% ... I gave this some thought and realised that I don't have the expertise to see what's ahead. Broadly I see it as an attempt to blow Redhat out of the water. The thing is, open source isn't currently like that, existing outside of corporate culture. Even if the open source movement becomes deeply divided over this partnership, it will continue.

I think this will boost MS's corporate image (awwww ... Steve Ballmer, corporate cutie-pie and all round good egg) but will harm SuSE in the eyes of the wider FOSS movement. I think a lot of hdds are going to be sans SuSE, assuming anyone cares enough.

My instinct is not to trust large corporations, not because I'm cynical but because - like so many people - I've been screwed by them. When they start lolling around in front of the cameras wearing casual clothes and smiling a lot I start to sweat. Tanned, confident and approachable, they ooze a quality that I would brand as 'trustability'. Every pore of their body projects this, and I feel myself recoiling slightly ... I nearly trod on a snake once and that's just how I feel. If - over the next 15 years or so - they are still smiling and contributing to FOSS then I might begin to change my mind.

[zba78]

Neither Microsoft nor Novell are "evil". They are just companies trying to make money, so it would seem that they both think that they will benefit (financially) from this agreement.

Novell will still be bound by the GPL, so any software they have released will remain open source.

I don't see anything bad here, and I will continue to use SUSE (I didn't install it due to its stand on OSS, I installed it cos I thought it was the best operating system I have tried so far).

I agree 100%. While there may be legitimate reasons to have some concerns about where Novel wishes to push this there's no doubt that this could turn out to be a pretty good business move.

And at the end of the day that's what both of these companies are about...business.

If we don't like it, use a different distro (it's not like there's a shortage of them to choose from)

I think this will boost MS's corporate image (awwww ... Steve Ballmer, corporate cutie-pie and all round good egg) but will harm SuSE in the eyes of the wider FOSS movement.

Maybe, but it may also encourage large companies to actually install Linux on their (or at least some or their) machines. Like I said above if desktop users aren’t happy with this then they can stick to one of the other distros. It would be nice to see the Linus user-base broadened.

[fingal]

Maybe, but it may also encourage large companies to actually install Linux on their (or at least some or their) machines. Like I said above if desktop users aren’t happy with this then they can stick to one of the other distros. It would be nice to see the Linus user-base broadened.

Could be ... I would welcome more Linux machines in the workplace. I can see very definite reasons for doing this from where I'm sitting, most of them related to improving cost efficiencies for organisations.

[cousinlucky]

Everyone within LinuxForums knows more about computers than I do.
What I " know " is human nature; the good, the bad, and the ugly!!

Big Government and Big Money are coming. It will be interesting to see whether the " open-source " community is capable of putting all of its differences aside to confront the onslaught marching over the horizon.

[easuter]

Whatever this develops into, one must always remember that Microsoft has used its partners in the past as steping stones, and when not needed anymore, were just discarded like trash.

IBM's OS/2 comes to mind.......

[joewee]

This whole issue has been created by the over staffed, over sized microsoft to run interference to the uneducated end users both consumer and corporate. Its intent is of course money, microsoft making money on there new product (vista) that once again is generating a lot of doubt among the educated few in the technology realm. That intent at some level is to grey the area between Windows and Linux to the users that don’t know any better(and there is lots of them). Microsoft is doing this out of no one but their own interest especially with the soon arriving vista. {hmmm the latest version of windows has lotz of issues, requirements and licensing restrictions, I have heard but I guess that it’s the only choice seeing as though Microsoft just bought into the only viable alternative Linux.}

As for SCO and their case death is all over them both, all but the epitaph, thats accourding to most leading industry analysts. And lets not forget that Microsoft bought a big chuck of their stock before that case started.

jw…

[deanlinkous]

The distributors of other versions of Linux cannot assure their customers that Microsoft won't sue for patent infringement. "If a customer says, 'Look, do we have liability for the use of your patented work?' Essentially, If you're using non-SUSE Linux, then I'd say the answer is yes," Ballmer said.

"I suspect that [customers] will take that issue up with their distributor," Ballmer said. Or if customers are considering doing a direct download of a non-SUSE Linux version, "they'll think twice about that," he said.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895...MNL103006EP17A