Backfire #1

somehow, i knew that this was coming... when novell and microsoft decided to
go to bed together, there's bound to be some controversy... the controversy
is starting with the cross-licensing agreement...

the issue is with the fact that novell DOES NOT own any significant part of
linux.. and hence, it shouldn't think that it has any right to sign any legal
agreements on behalf of the linux community.. and samba has fired the first
salvo today.. samba claims that the patent agreement between novell and
microsoft breaches the rights of free software.. it even claims that novell
has violated the GPL in signing the agreement..

well, i am not a lawyer.. however, i'm pretty sure that what novell did is, at
least in spirit, a violation of the GPL.. however, i'm not too sure about the
letter of the GPL... hence, samba has fired the first salvo.. it's most
likely not the last... since many linux teams are competing head-to-head with
microsoft products... it is understandable that they would feel betrayed by
novell in this case...

however, from novell's point of view, the $240mil worth of licenses that
microsoft intends to purchase, probably played a major role in it's decision
to sign off on all the clauses... but, novell doesn't own linux... so, novell
cannot sign any agreements on behalf of linux (or any other free software
that makes up it's SUSE).. i'm not a lawyer, but doesn't this mean that the
agreement is null/void??

so, novell has gone from linux evangelist (when it started instituting a
company wide switch to SuSE and began promoting linux instead of windows), to
linux traitor... well, the good news for novell is, it's not too late to turn
back... novell has garnered a lot of positive points in the last few years..
the community will forgive this slight trespass..

however, if novell insists that it HAS the right to sign legal agreements on
behalf of ANY free software, it will have a legal fight on it's hands.. the
GPL will have to be enforced and the FSF will have to step in.. then, the
decision will lie with the courts and novell will lose all positive points it
has with the free software community.. and without the support of the
community, no free software vendor can survive..

that's right.. novell is only a free software vendor.. one of many..