Hi, I read in an article, that Novell is bought by the Microsoft corporation. Is this going to mean anything to OpenSUSE, since MS are not so keen on open-source software…
grtz, Frank
Microsoft did not buy Novell. There are several threads here on the Novell sale, read some of those and post any comments there.
Can you quote that article for us please? I’m curious to read who is spreading this disinformation.
Its in dutch, hope you can translate it…
Novell verkocht, status Unix onduidelijk | Webwereld
It was on an Ubuntu forum, and now al the dutch ubuntu users are scared that the future of Unix is insecure, don’t know if it is true though…
kind regards, Frank
Keep cool, if microsoft even buy the kernel we(linux users) will suport new brands of/for Linux or every one switch to ChromeOS or Leopard !! 
Right now I am overwriting with Arch Linux the last fragment of MS from out of my life/PC cause I bought a PS3 !!
The original post is FUD: see Attachmate will retain Novell Unix patents - Techworld.com
@frankjeman: there’s some follow-ups on this matter/article in the dutch forums too. Please also read the Notification on top of the pages. There’s more in the couple of threads about this.
I pasted the article into google translation, and came up with what I think is a reasonable translation:
Dutch to English translation
Published: Monday, November 22, 2010
Author: Rene SchoemakerAttachmate has been bought by Novell, including SUSE Linux so that they receive. Novell also has the rights to Unix. Meanwhile, Microsoft buys some intellectual property of Novell.
Attachmate, owned by three investment companies pay 2.2 billion U.S. dollars for Novell. Cptn Holdings will pay 450 million U.S. dollars for 'certain intellectual property "to Novell. Cptn Holdings is a consortium of several technology companies set up by Microsoft.
Attachmate chop up into two parts, Novell, Novell and SuSE. The two business units are in addition to the two existing holding companies, Attachmate and NetIQ. The latter company does, like Novell Identity and Access Management.
Previous rumors
The acquisition of Novell was already in the pipeline for a while. VMware was so named as interested in SuSE Linux, Oracle had an eye for the entire company. Novell SuSE Linux coexist in a division for identity and access management middleware and sold well.
What specific intellectual property Microsoft consortium has bought has not been announced. It is also not known what happened to the rights to Unix happened. Novell in the last ten years fought a bitter battle with SCO, that the contested property rights in Unix.
I assume the statement that caused concern was “Meanwhile, Microsoft buys some intellectual property of Novell” …
That article is wrong and misleading in that statement. Microsoft did NOT directly buy any intellectual property of Novell. However a consortium of company’s led by Microsft did buy “some” of Novell’s patents, which however did NOT include the Unix intellectual property rights. Novell made that clear later.
Hence the news article is just a spin on earlier news before clarification was given.
IMHO it was shoddy journalism (in saying “Microsoft buys” ) . The prudent course of action is to wait and obtain more information, … however “waiting” for clarification is often a verdict of death upon many journals and journalists, as their goal is to be the first in producing the news, even if their news is inaccurate. …
IMHO the need to be first in the news (even if inaccurate or wrong) is a sad commentary on today’s journalistic society.
Might I add a real case in point about journalistic tenure. Back when I was about 1, my father was crushed on the job by a car. A news reporter claiming to know my dad reported he was single with no living family so it was OK to release the story unrestricted. My grand mother heard the story and was surprised to find my mom at home and not the hospital. Things are not as they seam in the world of journalism, they can cause a lot of hurt and damage whatever the topic all in the name of a scoop.
No, that is not true. It is impossible to believe it. In which article???
Since our focus is linux and linux is open source, governed by the GPL, how could MS “buy” it? SCO and MS “claim” linux steps on their patents, but they never indicated which ones because the patent infringement claims are phony; the purpose is to try and redirect energy away from linux development and back to proprietary unix or windows development. The game here is to put up various road-side bombs in the world of linux in hopes of scaring developers away. That’s all it is, so why does anyone care what MS bought from Novell? Suse existed before Novell came along and bought it. SCO used to sell its own version of linux. MS cannot kill linux unless linux users walk away from linux.
The translation of this article (Novell verkocht, status Unix onduidelijk | Webwereld) is terrible !
Its says:
Novell sold, status Unix unclear.
Novell is bought by Attchmate who will thereby acquire Suse Linux.
Novell has rights pertaining to Unix.
Meanwhile Microsoft buys some IP from Novell.
On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:36:02 +0000, Cinq-Marquis wrote:
> The translation of this article (‘Novell verkocht, status Unix
> onduidelijk | Webwereld’ (http://tinyurl.com/24z6ayq)) is terrible !
>
> Its says:
>
> Novell sold, status Unix unclear.
> Novell is bought by Attchmate who will thereby acquire Suse Linux.
> Novell has rights pertaining to Unix. Meanwhile Microsoft buys some IP
> from Novell.
And there was a public statement that the UNIX Copyrights are NOT part of
what’s been sold to the MS-backed consortium.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
… but that last bit in the article is not accurate (which is presumeably this in Dutch):
Microsoft koopt ondertussen enkele intellectuele eigendommen van Novell.
A consortium led by Microsoft purportedly purchased some Intellectual Property , but not Microsoft directly. The difference may (or may not) be important.
Important Message from John Dragoon, Chief Marketing Officer—UNIX Copyrights (Novell, 2010/11/24)
…]Novell will continue to own Novell’s UNIX copyrights following completion of the merger as a subsidiary of Attachmate. …]
Einmal, twice, three times, (…?)
pistazienfresser
frankjeman wrote:
>
> Hi, I read in an article, that Novell is bought by the Microsoft
> corporation. Is this going to mean anything to OpenSUSE, since MS are
> not so keen on open-source software…
Microsoft, MAY, through a friendly organization known as CPTN, get access to
some Novell patents. Some work has been done to identify the patents, you
can google for that data. Obviously, Microsoft, like 99.99999% of all large
tech companies arms themselves with a large patent portfolio to use in
litigation offense/defense (sad, but true).
But for now, the facts are some patents went to a Microsoft friendly holding
group and the rest went to Attachmate which is currently thinking that SUSE
will operate on its own.
but how do any of these patents affect opensuse? unless there is novell intellectual property in opensuse, which is not in other linux versions, it seems to me opensuse is essentially unaffected by the sale of novell.
RichardET wrote:
>
> but how do any of these patents affect opensuse? unless there is novell
> intellectual property in opensuse, which is not in other linux versions,
> it seems to me opensuse is essentially unaffected by the sale of novell.
>
But, Novell is a USA company, so USA patents… therefore, it’s possible for
example, that one of the patents was for OS’s using the color green…
etc…
I hear you. The beauty of linux though is MS cannot kill it because we can all go to other versions.
attachmate gaat Novell opknippen in twee delen, Novell en SuSE.
This is quiet something…You know, Microsoft Windows, a forever newbie hard-to-use weak concept system, for who wants to be a forever newbie. Microsoft should think about open-source. It’s quiet great. Everyone helps improving the system. e.g. Linux. It supports by a large community. Microsoft close all their source that mean only that limited designers, developers work in Microsoft can improve the system. In the perspective of the number of improver, Microsoft’s lost.