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Ubuntu, Red Hat reject Microsoft patent deal

zdnet.com.au — Red Hat, the largest Linux vendor, and Ubuntu-maker Canonical have both rejected calls from Microsoft to forge a deal similar to the one the Redmond giant signed with Linux distributors Novell, Xandros, and Linspire.

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  • muty, on 10/11/2007, -0/+50That's the way to do it :)
  • tinker123, on 10/11/2007, -2/+38Why should they take Microsoft's deal. Microsoft hasn't even named the patents that are violated. As Shuttleworth ( founder of Ubuntu ) put it, Microsoft is doing intellectual property racketeering. FUD.

    Red Hat and Ubunutu are two of the dominant Linux distros. The distros signing on with MS are B list distros. The deal helps them to stand out where they would not have stood out before. Red Hat and Ubunutu don't need that.
    • Jacob, on 10/11/2007, -15/+3Suse is anything but B-List. It is one of the biggest distros out there so don't say stuff like that. But you do have a point about the whole racketeering thing.
    • sacherjj, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16I would go so far as to say that signing with MS will probably cause distos to lose support from the community. Isn't that selling your soul to the devil on a bluff?
    • nismerf, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9http://distrowatch.com/

      Will give you an idea of where distros stand. Novell is number 2. I applaud Redhat and Ubuntu though. Why let Micro$oft bully open source around? The fact that Micro$oft is taking this stance tells me that they are concerned. That is good. Though leave it to Micro$oft to try to sue free.

    • 5lack3r, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14It is true that SuSE is not a "B-List" Distro, but Xandros and Linspire sure as hell are... and SuSE is run by Novell now, so you gotta expect them to pull stupid ***** once in a while. After all, Novell is notorious for blowing a good thing.
    • Fordi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13Eh. Suse may be number 2, but Ubuntu's number one. And Debian-based distros are five out of the top ten. Ubuntu's called foul, and we can expect Debian to do the same if asked. Same with Red Hat, and thus Fedora.

      MS is fighting a terribly uphill battle here.
    • SniperSlap, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I would say that Linspire and Xandros are b-list. The work behind those distros is trivial at best and the agreements Microsoft has made with them are so completely misplaced it's comical.

      Why hasn't Microsoft approached Wine? They aren't going after the projects, they're going after the distributions to scare people. It shows just how little people understand what's going on.
    • Fordi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@SniperSlap:
      Because of Wine's position (ie: something that's *clearly* a redevelopment of Windows' API), they make damned sure, that they're legally secure, through best-practices reverse engineering, and through clean-room-style development.

      Linux never did anything like that; they do code auditing to make sure nothing's ripped off, but there's no preemptiveness in the development process to head off infringement.

      That's not to say there's infringement in Linux, it's just to say that Linux makes a more attractive target for pirates like Microsoft.
  • williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22Let's see... Drink of the poisoned chalice, or continue leading the open software movement?

    Tough choice.
    • Spr0k3t, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16Cheese... rat poison... cheese... rat poison...
  • Gooie, on 10/11/2007, -3/+22First, The Ignore Us.
    Then They Laugh
    Then They Fight
    Then, We Win.
    • b3mus3d, on 10/11/2007, -13/+4only Linux evangelists could use a Ghandi quote to describe themselves.
    • daftman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13> only Linux evangelists could use a Ghandi quote to describe themselves.
      Why not? I'm pretty sure people also laughed at Ghandi when he first said that.
    • SniperSlap, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7It's a very succinct way of summarizing the attitudes of a scared enemy who may have the upper hand, but still can fall.

      I like it. Microsoft should really start making changes before they bet too much and lose. They're hurting themselves by resisting FOSS this much. I can't understand for the life of me how and why they think they can beat this movement.
    • TimDigg, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3How about the fact that their movement made the richest man in the entire world...

      I hate MS but think about that for a minute
    • djauto23, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1have heard this quote all too often. please stop it, we've heard it now.
    • Fordi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@timdigg:
      If you look at the history of microsoft, their success all boils down to one lucky gambit at the beginning, and one act of betrayal at the start of the GUI era.

      Without the cash from those ventures, they wouldn't be here, and IBM would be the Evil powerhouse.

      IBM, by the way, found a way to redeem their reputation through open source. Microsoft is trying, but pretty transparently.
  • Spr0k3t, on 10/11/2007, -0/+11Microsoft will eventually figure it out... but it will be too late.
  • myranttoyou, on 10/11/2007, -11/+0Ohhhhhh, Ubuntu! Squrirt, squirt, squirt....

    Whatever would I do if I had to use another OS?
  • MrKC, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Ubuntu and Red Hat need to form a partnership, and get the remaining Linux community to join the anti M$ camp. Strength in numbers!!!
  • c0ldfusi0n, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13I'm in ur kernel violatin ur patentz.
  • SniperSlap, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17Why the ***** should they make a "deal"?!

    There is no "deal", there's nothing to be "dealt"! This is such a load of *****. It's like saying "let's agree to nothing for nothing so that nothing continues to happen."

    *****, what a bunch of FUD. IT has been overrun by greedy idiots. Thank you Ubuntu for having a SPINE.
    • Spr0k3t, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Hey now... don't forget RedHat... they deserve just as much credit if not more for their locations in the states (unlike Canonical).
    • SniperSlap, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I will give redhat credit for carrying the torch up until and not including 8.0 and up.

      Ubuntu does it better though and they really stick to the right guns without ruining the product. The good news is that Red Hat hasn't forsaken its core the same way Linspire and Xandros have. So there's still some good in the group.

      It's just that I'm really opposed to the "certificalization" of any market - it introduces stupid people. And Red Hat has done that, brought stupid people to Linux through "certifications" which are just nonsense.
    • bpepple, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1you are aware that Ubuntu has a certification also?
  • slimasian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7"Damn the man! Save the Empire!"

    Huzzah to Canonical and RedHat!
  • mobilehavoc, on 10/11/2007, -14/+1It's just a matter of time...if push comes to shove they will fold, especially Red Hat. It's the major distro used by enterprises on servers and if in fact there's even a thread of truth to Microsoft's claims, no self-respecting corporation is going to use a Red Hat product that could open them to any litigation, this will force Red Hat to play ball with Microsoft.

    Ubuntu is a different story, don't think anybody cares whether it potentially violates any patents, except perhaps Dell after a while.
    • SniperSlap, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9Wrong.
    • shakin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12Don't just say "wrong". Tell him why he's wrong.

      Many companies behind Linux have huge patent portfolios. IBM, for example, has way more patents than Microsoft has. For nearly 20 years software companies have been in a patent cold war. Nobody can sue anybody else because they will get sued in return. Linux is a part of this cold war because they are aligned with some major software patent players. Even if Microsoft tries to fly under the radar and sues Debian users, for example, IBM and others will see that as a direct threat to their market because once word gets out that Linux users are being sued the users of other distros will worry about it.
  • generalloy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14Mandriva also said they won't do any deals.
  • locnguyen, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Resistance is not futile!
  • Scriptor, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1I don't have many good experiences with Ubuntu, (apparently it was unsafe to extract something from my flash drive to my flash drive), it could be fixed if I ever summon the non-laziness to upgrade though. However, I applaud them for not giving in to such empty threats.
    • Fordi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Ah, like any other system, remember to unmount/click 'safely remove' before unplugging a flash drive. Otherwise, yes. It's unsafe.
  • TimDigg, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I still say Oracle is doing for worse damage to OSS than Microsoft...

    http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060209_810527.htm

    they even tried to buy MySQL~!
    • Fordi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Eh. Here's what will happen if, for example, Oracle buys MySQL, and decides to make it subscription based:

      A week later, OpenSQL will be released by those fired from MySQL. It will be a source fork from the last open-licensed version of MySQL. All Linux and BSD package repositories will deprecate their MySQL packages in favor of OpenSQL. Oracle will lose money.

      You can make money from services on OSS, but the second you try and charge for the software, the community will ignore you, fork the project, and go about their business.
  • kday, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1edit
  • Gimli, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7I hope Microsoft gets burn badly with this extortion they trying to do on Linux developers, what a greed company. They stole many things from other companies (Apple, Digital (I think), IBM (Although they weren't really stealing, it's just IBM was being stupid), etc..) now they have the nerve saying that Linux developers are "infringing" on their patents.
  • bigfatdummy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Suse a "B" distro - I think not.
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