Mehmet Atif Ergun wrote:
RedHat never signed a deal with MS. Novell's action brought a lot of
negative feedback (and probably money loss) against them from the
community.
Agreed (about the neg publicity). The thing is that the IP protection
varies per company and isn't always what it seems.
For example, Oracles linux IP:
- Applies *only to the linux kernel*
Red Hat:
- Applies to all packages in RHEL
Novell:
- Must meet $50,000 minimum purchase, maintain Premium Service
Level contract, and register the system within 10 days of install
- Damages capped at $1.5M. Legal costs uncapped
- Covers only *copyright* infringement, not IP
Red Hat:
- No minimum purchase requirement. Applies only to active
subscriptions, but you don't have to have premium levels. No time limit
to register system.
- Covers damages & attorney fees generally capped at 12mo fees paid
to Red Hat
- Does cover IP claims
Important to keep in mind that there has never been a case where this
has actually been called into play. It's just a risk-reduction strategy
that allows Red Hat customers to focus in on the technology vice IP
scares from M$
