our newest Ally ...Microsoft?

[xxqq]

>Booting Linux from MS loader:

Setting NTLoader for booting Linux:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+NT-Loader.html

[onlinebacon]

This is just a scam to let microsoft make money off of the people that use linux. They get the money that people will pay to use SQL Server, Microsoft office and other ms applications, why else would they do it?

From what I hear the release a little bit of source code, enough to make a lyer that will run windows apps on linux (or something like that). THEY will get the money from the work that is done by other people to let their applications work on linux... I just dont think it will work.

Doesnt matter to me though because I wil not use any of their software anyways, just a little warning

[carlosponti]

I was doing some thinking about this over the weekend. Novel has put open source back by admitting there is patent infringement and would only serve to undermine Linux in commercial IT shops I believe that SUSE is doing Linux a disservice buy stating that Microsoft would not go after patent infringements. For one thing Microsoft or SCO have not proved that they have any code that has been infringed on in the first place. They are having difficulty doing so. This alliance would only serve to help Microsoft prove that its true when its not.

[techieMoe]

...For one thing Microsoft or SCO have not proved that they have any code that has been infringed on in the first place. They are having difficulty doing so. This alliance would only serve to help Microsoft prove that its true when its not.

You touch upon something that worries me. Microsoft has a tendency to make partnerships (overt or covert) and then suck that partner dry until they're no longer useful (SCO). I'm curious if they won't do the same with Novell.

[carlosponti]

i am pretty sure they will. mostly do so for the purpose of helping out Novel get indemnification for only one distro and after its become the standard then turn on them with Patent infringement claims. the main thing that they are willing to accomplish together is to reduce Red Hat's dominance. I do fear that from a company who in the past has nothing good to say about open source or Linux that they now teamed up with one and only one Linux provider for the good of both is crafty at best. I remember partners they used to have ie Sun, IBM, Sybase. Here is an example of how they treat their partners, Sybase and Microsoft Developed SQL Server together however when the product was finished they split. Sybase is almost unheard of now.

[cousinlucky]

Male aggressiveness pervades human life. It fuels the unending drive to found empires. Fifty billion isn't enough, I must destroy the competition and eradicate Linux.....

taken from the article " The Trouble With Men " by Fred Reed

sorry I can not put a link here - the article appears on a political website.

[bigtomrodney]

Novel has put open source back by admitting there is patent infringement

This was in my mind over the weekend too. The patent issues simply don't exist in Europe or much else of the world. It's really only an American issue though Microsoft are lobbying hard in Europe to get these in. I think Novell made a mistake. I understand why they would but I think it was very shortsighted to hedge their bets like this. If anything they should have provoked the patent issue to have it done with.

Genuine clean room reverse engineering shouldn't be an issue in my opinion. You shouldn't be able to patent and own a concept, only a process - and even then it should be something that is completely non obvious. Let us not forget the idea behind patents is to ensure availability to all of the idea, not to protect those that hold it.

[carlosponti]

Technology is being stifled in the US due to Software patents. I have always been disappointed with the acceptance that software patents receive. For sometime in the US you can patent a concept and it not be a tangible idea.

[burntfuse]

How true. Instead of being used to keep the big guys from stealing ideas from the little guys and making all the money until the inventor got a fair chance, they're now being used to block competition. The same thing's happening with copyrights. I think they used to last until the creator died, but now it goes until some insane amount of time afterwards. (50 years? 70 years?) All the big business suits here in the US are just obsessed with the idea of "intellectual property" - every word that comes out of my mouth is my own property, so no one can repeat them but me, and I'll run you into the ground with lawsuits if you do! Enough of my ranting, though...

Anyways, about this whole Novell-Microsoft thing: I can't say that it isn't going to be good for Linux in at least some ways, but on the other hand, after all the official statements and other stuff from Microsoft about Linux and Free/open source software (didn't Bill Gates say something about the GPL being like virus?), I honestly just *can't* bring myself to believe that they've got good intentions.

[fingal]

I think they used to last until the creator died, but now it goes until some insane amount of time afterwards. (50 years? 70 years?) All the big business suits here in the US are just obsessed with the idea of "intellectual property" - every word that comes out of my mouth is my own property, so no one can repeat them but me, and I'll run you into the ground with lawsuits if you do! Enough of my ranting, though....

I have in interest in this because as a (kind of) librarian I had to study copyright law. It's horribly complex, so I didn't do it in depth. In the UK copyright on IP used to last for 50 years following an author's death. Now - following the US model - it's 70 years. The copyright doesn't just apply to the content of a work, but also to its design / layout etc. I've always wondered where this leaves you when you print a page from a document ... Immediately - depending on your printer's settings - you've recreated the page with different fonts, borders, colours.

I'm a rebel though, because the whole idea of 'intellectual property' has gone too far imo. It's a hangup of the so called 'information age' ... We can now reinvent the world around us so that concepts can be owned rather than physical objects ... or as well as physical objects. This is a great way for lawyers to generate extra income, but also a great way to stifle creative thought. If information doesn't help us to create greater freedoms then we're no better than our agrarian ancestors yoked to the plough. In short, I think we should all be appropriately cynical when confronted with these ideas. It's valuable for me - if I write a book - for you not to claim that you wrote it etc., but saying 'I patented that idea first, then you wrote it so I'm going to sue you' is beyond stupid.