Linspire latest sell out to Microsoft Patent FUD
Jeanette
Linspire Inc. on June 14 will announce an agreement to license VoIP,
Windows Media, and TrueType font technology from Microsoft for use in
its Linux distribution. Additionally, the deal includes protection for
Linspire customers against possible violations of Microsoft patents by
Linux, and other cooperative measures.
Spread the word:
digg this story
According to a story published by the Associated Press, Linspire
reportedly will license Microsoft technologies relating to VoIP (voice
over Internet Protocol), Windows Media multimedia, and TrueType fonts.
Additionally, in a blow to search engine leader Google, Linspire
reportedly will make Microsoft's Live.com search engine the default "on
PCs that run its Linspire operating system."
Linspire has long made an effort to bundle proprietary drivers and
software with its Linspire and Freespire Linux distributions, as a way
to offer users a Linux OS that works with a wide range of popular
multimedia formats and browser plug-ins, and can play DVDs out of the box.
Another area of cooperation will be on technology for interoperability
between documents stored in OpenXML and the Open Document Format, as in
the Xandros/Microsoft agreement announced on June 5.
Additionally, as with both the Xandros/Microsoft and earlier
Novell/Microsoft agreements, this new Linspire/Microsoft agreement
reportedly will offer protection to Linspire Linux users against
possible infringement of Microsoft patents by Linux. Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer claimed on May 14 that "Linux violates over 228 patents," but to
date Microsoft has not detailed any alleged infringements.
In addition to the Novell/Microsoft and Xandros/Microsoft deals,
Microsoft on June 7 announced an agreement with LG Electronics said to
enable LG to use Microsoft patented technology in its product lines,
including in its Linux-based embedded devices.
Meanwhile, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been busy preparing a
final draft of the GNU General Public License Version 3 (GPLv3) that
contains language aimed at making these kinds of patent pacts a
violation of the license. As of this writing, however, the top Linux
kernel developers appear unwilling to migrate the Linux kernel to GPLv3
from GPL2, or to utilize a combination of both GPL licenses.
This deal between Linspire and Microsoft is particularly interesting in
light of the earlier bad blood between the two companies. Linspire was
founded in 2001 by Michael Robertson under the name, "Lindows." In July
of 2004, after several years of threats and saber rattling by Microsoft,
which claimed that "Lindows" violated its "Windows" trademark, the two
companies reached a settlement, whereby Microsoft was rumored to have
paid Lindows $20 million to change its name to Linspire, transfer its
Lindows-related domain names to Microsoft, and otherwise abandon its use
of the term, "Lindows."
"According to sources, customers of Linspire's Linspire Linux
distribution who wish to take advantage of the newly licensed Microsoft
technologies for VoIP, multimedia, and TrueType fonts will be required
to signify their acceptance of a Microsoft patent license, much as when
users install Adobe's PDF Reader or other proprietary software on Linux.
Presumably, the patent license will also contain language that offers
Lindows users protection against possible infringement of Microsoft
patents by Linux."
Thats the worst part
Financial terms and other details of this deal have not been revealed.
Jim Hubbard
"Jeanette" <jru...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:p33ci.9282$dC2....@newsfe13.lga...
> http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9642338710.html
>
> Linspire Inc. on June 14 will announce an agreement to license VoIP,
> Windows Media, and TrueType font technology from Microsoft for use in its
> Linux distribution. Additionally, the deal includes protection for
> Linspire customers against possible violations of Microsoft patents by
> Linux, and other cooperative measures.
>
> Spread the word:
> digg this story
> According to a story published by the Associated Press, Linspire
> reportedly will license Microsoft technologies relating to VoIP (voice
> over Internet Protocol), Windows Media multimedia, and TrueType fonts.
> Additionally, in a blow to search engine leader Google, Linspire
> reportedly will make Microsoft's Live.com search engine the default "on
> PCs that run its Linspire operating system."
<snip>
> Financial terms and other details of this deal have not been revealed.
They're dropping like flies.......maybe Microsoft really *has* got something
to threaten them with...
If not, why are so many folding under the MS threats? I assume they'd want
to see something before giving in to the Micropoly.
jim
Au79
I wouldn't say "so many", although one would argue that even just one
company folding is considered too many. There are, however, companies that
have maintained their cool and we can count on them to reject MS Raketeer's
"..an offer you can't refuse".
--
....................
http://www.vanwensveen.nl/rants/microsoft/IhateMS.html
Geico Caveman
>> Financial terms and other details of this deal have not been revealed.
>
> They're dropping like flies.......maybe Microsoft really *has* got
> something to threaten them with...
>
> If not, why are so many folding under the MS threats? I assume they'd
> want to see something before giving in to the Micropoly.
>
> jim
Barring Novell/SuSe, the other two companies that have made these deals
are/were miniscule players on the Linux scene. Perhaps they saw that they
could make no headway against the likes of Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat etc. and
decided to make a deal before GPLv3 came into play. This could well be
their management's retirement deal.
Jim Hubbard
"Geico Caveman" <spammers...@spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:f4qmv7$13c$1...@aioe.org...
Perhaps Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat and others should form a sort of legal
alliance against Microsoft.
Roy Schestowitz
Linspire was no surprise, unlike Novell. Linspire was even close to the
Enderle shill.
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Roy Schestowitz
Ubuntu's founder has already called it racketeering and said it was illegal.
Red Hat has a asimilar stance. It wants standards-based interoperability.
Linspire and Xandros, as some said already, are insignificant. They carely
give anything to Linux. Novell, on the other hand, was a real loss. Linspire
has been weak for over a month, so it's not at all surprising.
William Poaster
IMHO, & few others, Linspire isn't a "proper" linux distro anyway. It
was set up more like windoze that a linux OS. I can't say I'm surprised
it's folded to M$ patent threats.
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Roy Schestowitz
They say their aim (or at least fruits) was to make a 'cheap Windows' rather
than rely on and sell the strengths of Linux. This was not surprising to
those who have followed the forums for the past month. They made Linux look
bad sometimes. I'm surprised because their philosophy is very different from
Ubuntu's, yet those two 'camps' hav a partenrship (I don't know how close
Kevin and Mark are).
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Roy S. Schestowitz | Here be hills, there be dragons!
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux Ś PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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Linonut
> http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9642338710.html
>
> Linspire Inc. on June 14 will announce an agreement to license VoIP,
> Windows Media, and TrueType font technology from Microsoft for use in
> its Linux distribution. Additionally, the deal includes protection for
> Linspire customers against possible violations of Microsoft patents by
> Linux, and other cooperative measures.
>
> . . .
>
> This deal between Linspire and Microsoft is particularly interesting in
> light of the earlier bad blood between the two companies. Linspire was
> founded in 2001 by Michael Robertson under the name, "Lindows." In July
> of 2004, after several years of threats and saber rattling by Microsoft,
> which claimed that "Lindows" violated its "Windows" trademark, the two
> companies reached a settlement, whereby Microsoft was rumored to have
> paid Lindows $20 million to change its name to Linspire, transfer its
> Lindows-related domain names to Microsoft, and otherwise abandon its use
> of the term, "Lindows."
As the Clash sang:
I believe in this/ And it's been tested by research
He who fucks nuns/ Will later join the church
> "According to sources, customers of Linspire's Linspire Linux
> distribution who wish to take advantage of the newly licensed Microsoft
> technologies for VoIP, multimedia, and TrueType fonts will be required
> to signify their acceptance of a Microsoft patent license, much as when
> users install Adobe's PDF Reader or other proprietary software on Linux.
> Presumably, the patent license will also contain language that offers
> Lindows users protection against possible infringement of Microsoft
> patents by Linux."
Apparently Microsoft is finding a bit of leverage with some of the
commercial Linux vendors. I'm sure they will do well under the
Microsoft umbrella.
I'm still trying to find the trick in all of this. To me, this stuff
actually works against Microsoft, except for some licensing income.
Why does it work against Microsoft? Because those who use these
bastardized distributions will learn of the real thing at some point,
and they're already on the path away from Windows anyway.
Maybe Microsoft realizes this is the best it can do against Linux.
--
Tux rox!
Geico Caveman
>> Barring Novell/SuSe, the other two companies that have made these deals
>> are/were miniscule players on the Linux scene. Perhaps they saw that they
>> could make no headway against the likes of Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat etc.
>> and decided to make a deal before GPLv3 came into play. This could well
>> be their management's retirement deal.
>
> Perhaps Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat and others should form a sort of legal
> alliance against Microsoft.
There is little need as of now. GPLv3 will make that alliance pretty clear
to anyone that decides to pay royalty to Microsoft for software that
Microsoft never wrote.
Further, Debian is a pure community - and the kind of threats that Microsoft
issues these days have no effect on it. Which makes me grateful that I run
a non-vendor directed linux distro.
Kelsey Bjarnason
On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:52:14 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> They say their aim (or at least fruits) was to make a 'cheap Windows' rather
> than rely on and sell the strengths of Linux. This was not surprising to
> those who have followed the forums for the past month. They made Linux look
> bad sometimes. I'm surprised because their philosophy is very different from
> Ubuntu's, yet those two 'camps' hav a partenrship (I don't know how close
> Kevin and Mark are).
"Ah, I see you've made this feature easy. Good job. Now I'll take it to
our boys to make it safe." :)
Roy Schestowitz
G P L
V Three.
You know, when Kevin started with Linspire Michael approached him to
ask "What do you know about Linux?". Kevin said he knew nothing at all.
Nothing has changed.
According to someone whom I kind of know (from Digital Tipping Point),
Robertson actually realises and appreciates free markets. Kevin is just a
businessman. He's a pal of the Enderle shill , too. People's suspicions
about him have just been confirmed.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Anonymous posters are more frequently disregarded
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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