Good or bad for open source? Is there Microsoft patented technology in Linux?
It's been quite the week in the news of open source, Novell and Microsoft announced a partnership and Oracle announced they are shipping and supporting RedHat – minus all the logos. So is this a good week or a bad week for open source?
Let's start with the Novell/Microsoft partnership. The controversial part of that agreement is the cross patent portion. From the press release:
As part of this agreement, Microsoft will provide a covenant not to assert its patent rights against customers who have purchased SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or other covered products from Novell …
The way I see it, one of two things is true. Either this is a move entirely to ease the fears of customers because there are no Microsoft patents used in Linux or Novell is likely in violation of the GPL. Clause 7 of the GPLv2 specifically says that you can't distribute GPL licensed software if everyone you give it to can't redistribute it without violating someone's patent rights. From the text of the GPLv2:
For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
So either this agreement covers everyone Novell distributes Linux to, and everyone they give it to, and everyone they give it to, … or there are no patents to worry about so the promise isn't worth much … or I'm missing something. (Of course, I'm not an attorney and I haven't seen the text of the agreement between Microsoft and Novell.)
