I am a former Suse user. I am currently looking for a distro now that Mandriva went South. I would like to come back but before I do I need to know if Attachmate still has the deal with Microsoft in place. I know it expired at some point and then it was renewed but I don’t know if it expired again. If it didn’t expire, does anyone know when it will expire and what are Attachmate’s plans regarding renewal?
I would also like to know how easy it is to install Suse without Mono.
I know the Microsoft deal does not cover OpenSuse, it’s just for entreprise, but for me it is a matter of principle.
One does not need mono installed with openSUSE. If you select the advanced user options during openSUSE DVD installation you can pick and choose your software (albeit do so with caution).
Microsoft, with the help of its partners, Apple, EMC, and Oracle, in the CPTN Group has not, though, actually bought Novell’s patents as most people would understand the word “bought.” Instead, CPTN was forced, by the U.S. Department of Justice and the German Federal Cartel Office to re-sell the patents back to Attachmate. In return, the CPTN gets licensing rights to use the patents.
… ie Attachmate still owns the patents but CPTN has licence to use them.
There seems to be a misunderstanding and it’s my fault. I was not talking about the recent deal that sold Novell’s patents to Microsoft. While I don’t like the fact that Microsoft got the patents, I understand the economics behind it. I was talking about the deal that Novell made with Microsoft in November 2006. That patent cooperation agreement helped legitimize Microsoft’s claim that Linux infringes some of its patents. I know Novell did a lot of good things too, but I just can’t use Suse as long as that deal is still in place. By the way, I love Attachmate’s decision to get rid of the Mono project. I also like the community’s decision to make KDE the default desktop.
As for proprietary software I have no problem using it (for example my favorite browser is Opera).
I think you will find even Novell would dispute that statement that you claim is attributable to a Novell agreement with Microsoft.
IMHO proprietary software is a matter more worth hanging on principle than the misinformation surrounding the Novell agreement with Microsoft, which was not about any GNU/Linux patents.
@oldcpu
Thank you for the links. I have read all that stuff but I still don’t know if that deal has expired or not. Is Attachmate a subject of that deal?
IMHO proprietary software is a matter more worth hanging on principle than the misinformation surrounding the Novell agreement with Microsoft …
Maybe I am weird, but for me it is very important that the platforms are open source and open standards. What runs on top of them (open source or proprietary) it is less important. I still prefer open source applications, it’s just not that important.
… the Novell agreement with Microsoft, which was not about any GNU/Linux patents.
I don’t agree with that. Let me quote from the article you have linked in your previous post:
The patent agreement covers everything from openSUSE.org that is included in past and current Novell supported versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.
Anyway, I don’t want to talk about that deal in detail, I just need to know if it ended or not.
Yes, you already mentioned that. Do you have anything useful to say?
@moderatos
I don’t know how to move this thread elsewhere and I don’t know which section is appropriate for this thread. This section seemed the most appropriate to me. Please feel free to move it anywhere you want.
However it may have been partly superceded by the recent agreement where Novell’s patent’s were bought from Novell and sold back to Attachmate with the CPTN group having the right to use Novell’s patents. But as far as I know (unless there was a time lapse) Microsoft still agree not to sue Novell on patents owned by Microsoft, and Novell (owned by Attachmate) still agree not to sue Microsoft on patents owned by Novell (but likely now Microsoft has bought the right to use those patents).
What ever our disagreement on the patents, I would say that many of the same agreements still apply today and you can draw your own conclusions from that as to what distribution you wish to use.
I do not share the same views as you wrt proprietary software runing on a free open source OS. I MUCH prefer a free open source application over a proprietary application. AND despite that preference (of free open source over proprietary software for ALL software including both proprietary applications and proprietary OS), I am pragmatic here wrt BOTH applications and operating systems … ie as the case may be, I will use a proprietary OS or a propietary application if the circumstances do not offer me an adequate Free Open Source alternative. I do NOT make the operating system distinction that you make. My view is monopolies can be in place for applications just like they can be in place for operating systems and ergo I don’t share your application views.
This is exactly what I thought. The deal should de facto be dead since Attachmate does not own any patents for cross-licensing. And I can’t hold Attachmate responsible for Novell’s decisions. Attachmate starts with a clean slate and I like their actions so far.
I chose the word “platform” exactly because it is not limited to operating systems. Applications can be platforms and if they are they should be open source and open standards just as much as operating systems should be. Monopolies can be enforced by those who control the platforms but what runs on top of the platform is a different story. Anyway, this is kind of off topic and the off topic police is out there to get me, so I’ll stop here.
I’ll play with Suse Studio which I heard is amazing. I hope I will no be disappointed.