Novell's alliance with Microsoft?

[Leo]

On Fri, 10/11/06, Jay Scherrer wrote:

> List,
> How will this alliance of Novell with Microsoft effect future releases
> of Fedora? I am happy that Fedora is continually and fully
> open-sourced.
>
> Reference:
>
> <http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/faq_opensource.html>
> Q1. How is this agreement compatible with Novell's obligations under
> Section 7 of the GPL?
>
> Our agreement with Microsoft is focused on our customers, and does not
> include a patent license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft to
> Novell (or, for that matter, from Novell to Microsoft). Novell's
> customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from Microsoft. We
> have not agreed with Microsoft to any condition that would contradict
> the conditions of the GPL and we are in full compliance.
>
> Novell's end user customers receive a covenant not to sue directly
> from Microsoft for their use of Novell products and services, but
> these activities are outside the scope of the GPL.
>

It seems it is a bit too soon to conclude. We shall give it some
time. But I'm amazed how Novell is always making stupid decisions.

-- 
Leo