[clue-talk] FW: [LinuxFun] patent-indemnification solution specialist

[Dennis J Perkins]

Isn't MS tumpeting each agreement by claiming indemnification?  That
implies that these companies agree that there are patent violations.

Ubuntu already has Wine.  It didn't need an agreement with MS to do so.
Crossover is made by Codeweavers, which also supports Wine, by the way.
Do they have an agreement with MS?

Crossover is a commercial product, altho you can try before buying it.
I don't know what restrictions they have.  If distros are including it
now, I suspect it is just the trial version.

If MS really feels that Crossover is in violation of patents, they can
go after it. They haven't done so.  The antitrust decision might make
this a bit more difficult for them but patent violations would be a
valid reason.

It seems to me that except for Novell, only the commercial fringe
distros appear to be interested, and only for the money that they get
from MS.  It's fodder for MS's FUD machine and will doubtless influence
some, but it's useless in court.  I doubt that MS will sue the others
because at some point it would be forced to show proof.  It's one thing
to be SCO and try it.  It's completely different when MS tries it
because failure to show proof will look like anticompetitive,
monopolistic action.


If Vista is really a commercial failure, MS might get more strident on
this.


On Fri, 2007-06-22 at 20:45 -0600, Tony McDowell wrote:
> I don't agree with this mindset.  If you look at the nature of
> Novell's SuSE and NovellDesktop offerings, Linspire, and Xandros, ALL
> THREE have made it a priority to play well with Windows applications.
> If you've seen the Xandros development builds, they are starting to
> place CrossOver and Wine right in the mainline.  Bearing this in mind,
> I can see why they'd "capitulate" with Microsoft.  It's to protect
> themselves when they start stepping all over the Win32 API to make
> Windows apps work under Linux is production, corporate environments
> (notice what I said -- production environments, not home users). 
> 
> Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Mandriva have always made a public showing of
> their "down with Microsoft, Linux can do everything" attitude.  That
> being said, I am not remotely surprised that they have reacted the way
> they have.  They don't _need_ Microsoft or Windows for their normal
> business model or target client base to work properly.  They don't
> need any access to API's or other IP from MS, so there's no need for
> them to sign anything that would give them access to it or protection
> from "stepping on it". 
> 
> While I absolutely HATE that things have come to this, I think it had
> to come to something like this eventually.  Somewhere down the road, I
> think that ReactOS will face the same scenario as well when MS brings
> out the "IP infringement" guns on having "two Windows". 
> 
> As a final note, don't forget that Apple is "in bed with" Microsoft to
> a sum that I am no longer familiar with dating back to the late 1990's
> when Apple was months from going under and Microsoft infused huge sums
> of money into Cupertino just to keep up the guise of "competition."  I
> make this point because no one seems to be going around chastising
> Apple for being in bed with MS like these Linux companies. 
> 
> as always, this is just my $0.02 so take it for what it's worth.
> 
> .tony
> 
> On 6/22/07, dennisjperkins at comcast.net <dennisjperkins at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>         It just shows that even Linux companies can have a PHB.
>         
>         Only a fool capitulates and pays money without being shown
>         proof.  Unless they're going to break your kneecaps. :)
>         
>         
>         
>         -------------- Original message ---------------------- 
>         From: "David L. Willson" <DLWillson at TheGeek.NU>
>         > reposting for link repair...  and I'll add a few more links
>         while I'm at it...
>         > Hopefully, I won't break them this time. 
>         >
>         >
>         > -----Original Message-----
>         >
>         > Had to work hard to get the acronym I was working for
>         there...
>         >
>         > Just to let you know, in case you're not paying attention,
>         these are the 
>         > Linux
>         > distribution vendors that are in bed with Microsoft:
>         >
>         >  - Novell
>         >  - Xandros
>         >  - Linspire
>         >
>         > And these are the Linux distribution vendors that have
>         stated their 
>         > disinterest in being
>         > bedded by Microsoft.
>         >
>         >  - Red Hat - http://www.redhat.com/promo/believe/
>         >  - Ubuntu - http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/127
>         >  - Mandriva -
>         http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/06/19/we-will-not-go-to-canossa/
>         >
>         > And ~this~ is how Microsoft encourages vigorous competition
>         and
>         > innovation:
>         >
>         http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleI
>         > d=9019238
>         >
>         > David L. Willson
>         > Trainer/Engineer/Consultant
>         > MCT, MCSE, Linux+
>         > (720) 333-LANS
>         >
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