Hilarious

Novell puts out a lame statement claiming it hasn’t admitted to infringing any Microsoft patents, hoping this statement will assuage the extremists. (It won’t.) Microsoft fires back with its own statement saying, “Microsoft and Novell have agreed to disagree on whether certain open source offerings infringe Microsoft patents and whether certain Microsoft offerings infringe Novell patents.”

This is nuts. If Novell isn’t infringing, why are they paying royalties? In fact Microsoft and Novell have been haggling over this issue since 2003. Microsoft offered to drop the Linux patent threat if Novell would drop its WordPerfect-related lawsuit. Someone in a position to know tells me that Novell’s lawyers have studied those Microsoft claims and determined they are legitimate. That same person says Red Hat will strike a similar deal with Microsoft within 12 to 18 months — if only because big customers are demanding it.

Again this comes down to different constituencies not understanding one another. Extremists and crunchies want to wage crusades and holy wars; corporate users want their vendors, like Novell and Red Hat and Microsoft, to work out their differences and leave them out of it.

Yes, Microsoft wishes Linux would die. But give Microsoft some credit. They have acknowledged that Linux isn’t going away. And they have listened to their customers and done what their customers wanted, which is to make peace with the Linux world. The same can’t be said for Eben Moglen and the rest of the “community,” who are in fact doing everything they can to make life miserable for big customers who use Linux.

Who is/are PJ?

Who is (or are) the anonymous author(s) of Groklaw? I’m told there is more than one author, and that none of them is a lady with a red dress hanging in her closet or a stack of pamphlets in the back seat of her car. I know there are people who know. And I’m betting there is someone willing to spill. No reward offered; just the satisfaction of “digging for truth.” Send email. Anonymity assured.

Note to potential posters: If you’re going to write to me and say you don’t care who PJ is, or that it doesn’t matter who PJ is, save yourself the exertion of typing those words. Okay? I love you too. Mwah.

Moglen gets ready to throw down

The Professor is hinting at the possibility of a legal battle with Novell and Microsoft. Money quote:

“We are now working by peaceable negotiations to protect our client’s legal interest, and we see no likelihood that we’re going to adopt steps that involve the use of legal compulsion. If we are unable to work the situation out peacefully, that may change.”

As far as I know Professor Moglen has never actually litigated a case in court before. That alone would make a trial worth watching. But if you’re at all familiar with the Professor’s personal demeanor you know that this would be an exquisite piece of absurdist theater. Like something out of Kafka. I would pay to attend it.

Meanwhile the Professor also says, via his propaganda site, Groklaw, that the FSF will make sure that GPLv3 is worded in such a way to upset the Microsoft-Novell deal. PJ says that’s going to send shivers down spines at Microsoft. Riiiight. Actually it’s more likely sending shivers down spines at OSDL, and among kernel developers. And at Red Hat, and IBM, and HP. And at all those big Wall Street banks and thousands of other companies that rely on Linux. Those guys spent so much time worrying about Microsoft that they failed to see the demons in their midst. In the immortal words of Walt Kelly: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Linux, the miracle software?

I’m amazed that people really think Linux does not step on any patents. Come on. That’s like believing that the Blessed Virgin has appeared in a cinnamon bun. Pretty much all software programs step on patents. And you can’t really believe that Novell agreed to pay royalties based on nothing, can you? The negotiations with Microsoft began in 2003, according to my sources. Novell’s lawyers went over this issue for three years — and in the end they paid up. I say this as someone who is a fan of Linux, who believes this is the most important piece of software that has come along in the past 2o years. This isn’t about good versus evil. It’s just business. Linux distributors need to grow up and behave like every other company, working out details on intellectual property rights just like everyone else. If the GPL prevents that from happening, the big losers will be corporations that love this software and want to keep using it.

What MSFT patents does Linux infringe?

The anonymous PJ of Groklaw now alleges that Linux does not actually infringe any Microsoft patents, and says Microsoft should step up and prove its claim by showing the world which of its patents are infringed by Linux. The Groklaw faithful echo this theme, claiming Microsoft is just spreading FUD and making up lies about Linux infringing on Microsoft patents. Funny, then, that in August 2004, Open Source Risk Management put out this analysis claiming Linux appeared to infringe on 283 patents, including 27 held by Microsoft. OSRM’s “director of research” back in the day was none other than Propaganda PJ. That’s before she resigned because it apparently didn’t look good for her to belong to a group that was claiming Linux infringed patents, and trying to profit by selling insurance policies to corporations based on this claim. Or maybe PJ didn’t really believe Linux infringed any patents, but she was hawking insurance policies anyway; which is like selling flood insurance to people who live on mountaintops. Anyhow, if PJ wants to find out which Microsoft patents are infringed by Linux, she should go back and read that OSRM analysis. Heck, she could even publish the list of patents that her pals Dan Ravicher and Daniel Egger claimed were infringed upon. OSRM never told anyone which patents they’d found. Maybe now is a good time?

Why I love covering Linux

Cause even when you write an article like “Novell: We Surrender” you get mail like this:

Your story unfortunately creates more confusion than necessary due
to the many “mis-statements” probably as a result of your ignorance of
this particular occurance and technology as a whole.

One, Microsoft has not stated that they willl be “distributing copies” of
Novell Suse Linux, but instead will be offering their customers “vouchers”
will can be redeemed in Novell Suse Linux purchases. That is quite
different.

Second, Linux (sic), or more correctly GNU/Linux is not “a variant” of UNIX,
which not only would require the product to be called UNIX if true, but
includes no licensed UNIX code: refer SCO VS IBM court case.

Thirdly, there are not many different ‘Linuxes’ only one, but different
“distributions” – which certainly contain variations in applications
included/supported, service programs and different installers/package
managers and administration tools, very similar in reality to the choices
experienced with most other OperatingSystems (OSs). This is a very
different description and meaning.

Lastly, the Free Software Foundation has “not” released a “new”
version of GNU/Linux. If you read the news correctly, you would
have understood that they acknowledged the release (by an organization)
of a new “distribution” which was noted because it contained no commercial/
proprietary software drivers.

It has now become urgent that Forbes secure more knowledgeable,
creditable and competent reporters in the area of technology, rather
than continue this folly of allowing “so-called” journalists to pour out
garbage as viable content.

I’ve become a Crackberry addict

Forbes just got me an 8703 and I have to say, I’m in love. Before this I was using a data-only Blackberry, plus a Treo, plus a clamshell phone for weekends. I’ve been using a Treo for years. Was worried that I’d miss it. I don’t.

Zimbra is on fire

Had lunch yesterday with Satish Dharmaraj from Zimbra, the open source email company. They now have more than 4 million users and are winning business all over the place. Satish says there is huge pent-up demand among users of Lotus Notes. They hate Notes but don’t want to go to Exchange. Now they have another choice and Satish says they’re switching like mad to Zimbra. Not only does Zimbra blow the doors off Exchange; it also costs way less. And it’s easy to get started. Pop in a couple of Linux servers, load Zimbra, and you’re off to the races. No client software; it’s all browser-based. Now Zimbra is making things even easier. They’ve got a deal with rPath whereby they’ll attach Linux directly to the Zimbra mail server software and ship it as an appliance. (Interesting to see the smart open source companies all teaming up with each other, isn’t it? rPath is one of the other cool open source companies.)

If you’ve seen a demo of Zimbra’s email, you’ll know why everyone is jumping. If you haven’t, you really should. It’s amazing. The coolest piece of software I’ve seen in ages. The kind of thing where you go, I just gotta have this. Now. If not sooner. Alas, my company uses Exchange. Oh well. Satish tells me there’s hope for folks in my situation. Zimbra is developing a bit of free software that you’ll be able to plug into your browser and get Zimbra client functionality even if your company is using Exchange. Sweet, right? I will be lining up like a PS3 fanatic standing outside Wal-Mart to download this stuff when it becomes available. Middle of next year, Satish says.

One final point. Satish is one of the funniest, smartest guys you’ll ever meet in the tech business. Just great company. Young, energetic, lots of drive, and a great sense of humor. The new wave of open source companies is full of guys like this. Billy Marshall at rPath, Peter Yared at ActiveGrid. Outspoken, smart, no-B.S. kind of guys, and hilarious to hang out with. They know they’re onto something big. They make no apologies for wanting to make money. And they have no patience for the noisy “religious” folks who used to dominate the debate in this space. They don’t worship Richard Stallman and in many cases they avoid the GPL like the plague. They don’t read Groklaw except to get a good laugh.

These guys are the Bill Gateses and Larry Ellisons of the next decade or two. It’s really cool to meet them now, when they’re just starting out.

The roots of the Microsoft-Novell deal

I was aware late last year that Microsoft lawyers had been holding “quiet conversations” with open-source vendors and their customers. The gist seemed to be that Microsoft was making vendors aware of its patent claims, and then giving the same presentation to customers and urging them to push their vendors to the negotiating table with Microsoft (with a veiled or perhaps not-so-veiled threat that at some point they, the customers, could be in hot water with Microsoft.)

Now I’m told that in fact these talks began much earlier than that. The deal regarding patents and royalties was on the table at Novell as far back as 2003, with Microsoft claiming infringement of 28 patents, says someone who is in a position to know. The old management team at Novell (ie, before Hovsepian) decided to dig in their heels and test Microsoft’s resolve. The new guys reversed course. “Ray Noorda is rolling over in his grave in disgust,” I’m told.

The Moglen meeting happened

I’ve confirmed that. But no word from the professor. Novell is supposed to put out some kind of expanded statement regarding the GPL in the next day or two. Not sure if FSF will do the same.