On Tuesday 14 November 2006 16:05, houghi wrote: > On Tue, Nov 14, 2006 at 03:44:27PM -0900, John Andersen wrote: > > Novells promise of money to Microsoft based on the SALES OF FOSS > > software, while at the same time declaring that there is no infringements > > in Suse is confusing at best, disingenuous, and possibly in direct > > violation of the GPL. > > What sales of GPL software? What they sell/give away/deal with is the > SLES and SLED upgrades. If I want to download SLES, I just do so. If I > want to have updates, I must go to Novell and get a licence *for those > updates*.
Why am i having this discussion with you? You seem to have no clue what is in the agreement: From: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-02MSNovellPR.mspx Quote: Under the patent cooperation agreement, both companies will make upfront payments in exchange for a release from any potential liability for use of each other’s patented intellectual property, with a net balancing payment from Microsoft to Novell reflecting the larger applicable volume of Microsoft’s product shipments. ****Novell will also make running royalty payments based on a percentage of its revenues from open source products.**** ---- end-quote emphases added = **** > > > That's what the debate is about. Not making money. > > Until these issues are settled openly and publicly you can > > expect a certain amount of discontent. > > They ARE setteling this openly. Nonsense. > Much more openly then any deal I have ever > seen made. They have an FAQ. They answer questions. And still people are > not content, because in the end, Because in the end they DODGE the questions. > > So what PRECICELY would you want Novell to do now. Be as specific as > posible. Do you want them to print out the contract and give it to you? Do > you want them to nullify the contract? Handing out assignments are we? Yours is to GO RE-READ what is printed on Novell's website and Microsoft's website. > What details do you want to see specificaly? I want to see the justification of why Novell is paying microsoft a percentage of what it makes on supposedly Non infringing code. I want to see just which Microsoft patents Novell is using and in which OSS packages they are inserting this use to justify these payments. I want to see why Microsoft is paying Novell huge chunks of money for use of WHAT? I want clarification on just how it is that Microsoft will not Sue Suse developers for infringements (which by Novell's assertion don't exist anyway) but no other developers in the OSS get this protection. Further, I would like to see Novell repudiate this whole idea of protecting only SOME developers (of code which Novell insists does not infringe), but only if they work for Novell or stop contributing work to Open Source Software community. Extend it to everybody, or take it off the table. If there are infringements, take it to court to get cease and desist orders. No back room deals. If there is no infringements then why buy into that whole game? http://news.samba.org/announcements/team_to_novell/ -- _____________________________________ John Andersen
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