WinInfo Short Takes: Thanksgiving 2006 Special Edition: Microsoft/Novell Pact Already in Tatters

 Not very surprising

Why can't we just get along? Oh, right, one of us is a drooling, monopolistic superpower and the other is a New Age hippy convinced that we can all make money by giving away software. This week, it became clear that the Microsoft/Novell pact was made with a lot of false assumptions on both sides, apparently, with Microsoft claiming that Novell must pay it $40 million to cover Linux violations of Microsoft's intellectual property. Meanwhile, Novell says it never agreed that Linux violates Microsoft's intellectual property. But it gets worse: The Free Software Foundation (FSF), which owns the Linux license, says that Microsoft should pledge not to sue all Linux users over this problem; otherwise, Linux companies shouldn't work with Microsoft. The problem is that the Microsoft/Novell pact violates the GNU General Public License (GPL) under which Linux is licensed. "We have agreed to disagree," a Microsoft representative said. You know, wars start over disagreements such as this one.

Source: WinInfo Short Takes: Thanksgiving 2006 Special Edition