Text 17168, 93 rader
Skriven 2007-03-29 18:50:20 av mike (1:379/45)
Ärende: Microsoft’s Linux Woes
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From: mike <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21823&hed=Microsoft%92s+Linux+Woes&sec
tor=Industries&subsector=Computing

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Latest Linux proposals could leave software behemoth and Novell out in cold.


Software behemoth Microsoft could be one of the biggest losers from proposed
license changes to the Linux operating system unveiled Wednesday.

That’s a possible outcome of updates to the license pushed by the Free Software
Foundation. The FSF wants to make mutually exclusive pacts such as the
Novell-Microsoft open-source agreement (see Exit Interview: Jeremy Allison,
Strange Bedfellows) a violation of the next iteration of the GNU GPL (General
Public License), the license that governs Linux use.

“The impact I think most observers are worried about… [is] that the aggregated
changes will prevent widespread adoption and therefore fragment the market into
GPLv2 and v3 projects,ö Red Monk analyst Stephen O’Grady said, referring to
names of the current and upcoming licenses.

The FSF has the rights to what’s called GNU Linux—software that makes up the
Linux operating system—though not to the Linux kernel itself. The FSF says that
the Microsoft-Novell partnership goes against the philosophy of making software
code free for all. The new license, if accepted, could isolate Microsoft, as
well as Novell, from the rest of the open-source community.

What it means it that Novell and Microsoft would have to stay with the GPLv2
license since it would be in violation of the GPLv3 license—and the duo would
not be able to take advantage of new developments made under GPLv3.

Microsoft reacted to the proposal with concern. “It is unfortunate that the FSF
is attempting to use the GPLv3 to prevent future collaboration among industry
leaders to benefit customers,ö said Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s vice
president of intellectual property and licensing, in an email.

The upcoming license will be the third such license to regulate GNU-based
software. The free, or open-source, GNU is the basis for many software
projects, such as the Gnome desktop. The latest draft of GPLv3 was released
Wednesday—three months after it was supposed to come out as the FSF scrambled
to address the alliance between Novell and Microsoft.

“It’s about … how do we prevent these types of attacks on free software from
occurring,ö said FSF executive director Peter Brown, whose group prefers the
word “freeö to the common term “open source.ö

The organization isn’t alone in its belief that Microsoft’s deal with Novell
opens the door for it to take action against other distributors such as Red Hat
and Ubuntu. “There are a great many who feel that [Novell and Microsoft]
violate the spirit by way of its exclusiveness,ö Mr. O’Grady said.

But the GPLv3 doesn’t address all concerns related to free code—namely,
disagreements among proponents of open or free software code. For one thing,
the community around the Linux kernel will likely not adopt the license. Linus
Torvalds, who led the creation of the kernel, is against the update.

“One of my major gripes with it is that it extends the GPLv2 so much that it’s
not at all the same license …The GPLv3 imposes a number of new rules that
aren’t really acceptable to many people, and as such it just means that rather
than have one common license, we’ll have two,ö Mr. Tovalds told Red Herring
last year (see Q&A: Linus Torvalds).

“The greatest conflict with the GPLv3 tends to be focused around DRM and
restricting vendor behavior that is contrary to the Free Software Foundation
principles,ö said 451 Group analyst Raven Zachary.

Despite concerns over which communities and which GPL projects will embrace the
new license, some major players likely will adopt GPLv3. For example, Mr.
Zachary said Sun Microsystems is likely on board. It’s “leaning toward the use
of GPLv3, possibly for an additional license opportunity for OpenSolaris,ö
Sun’s open operating system.

And not all software giants are evil, Mr. Brown said: “So far Oracle has abided
by the [current GPL] license, and indeed have promoted free software.ö

Novell’s director of public relations, Bruce Lowry, wrote in his blog that
despite his company’s alliance with Microsoft, “Novell has been and continues
to be a strong supporter of free software and open source.ö He also wrote, “If
the final version of the GPL3 does potentially impact the agreement we have
with Microsoft, we’ll address that with Microsoft.ö

If all goes well, GPLv3 will take affect in June. The Linux community may not
unite before then, though, despite everyone sharing a similar goal—“freedom for
computer users,ö as Mr. Brown put it.
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  /m

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