Microsoft joins OSDL, frees Linux of liability
2005-04-03 14:19
399 查看
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/31/1219223&from=rss
APRIL FOOLS DAY SPECIAL -- Adding what is perhaps its most significant member to date, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced that longtime open source opponent Microsoft is joining its ranks, giving Eric Raymond a seat on the Microsoft Board of Directors and agreeing to a sweeping intellectual property agreement this week.
OSDL said that after several hours of intense negotiations, officials of the "center of gravity for Linux and open source" had brokered the deal with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who downplayed the membership of a proprietary software maker in an open source organization.
"Microsoft's decision to join OSDL was driven by our commitment to our customers," Ballmer said in a statement. "We realize that some of those customers do not want to pay for our licenses, want access to source code, or for some other reason go with a competing product or platform. Today's announcement ensures that even if customers do not willingly choose Microsoft, we might still have a chance at forcing them to do so."
OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen said he was happy to bring Microsoft on board, calling it "a nice change of pace for OSDL."
As part of its membership agreement, Microsoft has agreed to put controversial open source proponent Eric Raymond on its board, indicating that Raymond will be entitled to "attend meetings and everything." Raymond was not asked for comment, but was reportedly planning to protest the entire MS-OSDL agreement by boycotting Microsoft's board meetings.
The addition of the Redmond, Wash. based software giant to OSDL -- which already has a pantheon of members including IBM, Intel, and companies from Asia, Europe and the Aleutian Islands -- was also marked by an extraordinary intellectual property sharing arrangement that is aimed at erasing fears that Microsoft might use software patents or licenses against its competitors.
Through this deal, Microsoft gains access to the complete source code for the Linux operating system. In return, OSDL has reportedly won immunity for all 283 alleged Windows patent infringements in GNU/Linux.
"This agreement gives Microsoft full access to the Linux code so we can now fully and legally compare it and possibly integrate it into our own compelling products," Ballmer said. "It also means Linux users and supporters can rest at ease that Microsoft will not take legal action against them, at least not at this time."
In a somewhat related note, OSDL's Cohen refuted rumors about Microsoft's membership possibly clearing the way for the SCO Group, a Utah software company that has made its own intellectual property claims over Linux, to join the open source nonprofit as well.
"On the question of SCO, well... um... all I can say is, 'stranger things have happened,'" Cohen said.
APRIL FOOLS DAY SPECIAL -- Adding what is perhaps its most significant member to date, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced that longtime open source opponent Microsoft is joining its ranks, giving Eric Raymond a seat on the Microsoft Board of Directors and agreeing to a sweeping intellectual property agreement this week.
OSDL said that after several hours of intense negotiations, officials of the "center of gravity for Linux and open source" had brokered the deal with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who downplayed the membership of a proprietary software maker in an open source organization.
"Microsoft's decision to join OSDL was driven by our commitment to our customers," Ballmer said in a statement. "We realize that some of those customers do not want to pay for our licenses, want access to source code, or for some other reason go with a competing product or platform. Today's announcement ensures that even if customers do not willingly choose Microsoft, we might still have a chance at forcing them to do so."
OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen said he was happy to bring Microsoft on board, calling it "a nice change of pace for OSDL."
As part of its membership agreement, Microsoft has agreed to put controversial open source proponent Eric Raymond on its board, indicating that Raymond will be entitled to "attend meetings and everything." Raymond was not asked for comment, but was reportedly planning to protest the entire MS-OSDL agreement by boycotting Microsoft's board meetings.
The addition of the Redmond, Wash. based software giant to OSDL -- which already has a pantheon of members including IBM, Intel, and companies from Asia, Europe and the Aleutian Islands -- was also marked by an extraordinary intellectual property sharing arrangement that is aimed at erasing fears that Microsoft might use software patents or licenses against its competitors.
Through this deal, Microsoft gains access to the complete source code for the Linux operating system. In return, OSDL has reportedly won immunity for all 283 alleged Windows patent infringements in GNU/Linux.
"This agreement gives Microsoft full access to the Linux code so we can now fully and legally compare it and possibly integrate it into our own compelling products," Ballmer said. "It also means Linux users and supporters can rest at ease that Microsoft will not take legal action against them, at least not at this time."
In a somewhat related note, OSDL's Cohen refuted rumors about Microsoft's membership possibly clearing the way for the SCO Group, a Utah software company that has made its own intellectual property claims over Linux, to join the open source nonprofit as well.
"On the question of SCO, well... um... all I can say is, 'stranger things have happened,'" Cohen said.
相关文章推荐
- Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you, including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Pho
- zabbix Lack of free swap 报警 LINUX在线添加swap分区
- free - Linux tools 2 of n
- 21 of the Best Free Linux Backup Software
- 5 of the Best Free Linux System Cleaning Tools
- 5 of the Best Free Linux Port Scanners
- How to install and run Microsoft Windows for free on Linux
- [转贴]Ultimate List of Free Windows Software from Microsoft
- Linux命令基础27-查看资源相关命令(df/du/free)
- linux命令free信息解析
- linux 理解contain_of
- redhat 6.4 安装VirtualBox自动增强功能功:unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel
- Words of UNIX/LINUX
- Linux下时间/时区的设置以及gettimeofday()函数的使用方法
- The communication of Linux Server and Localtion
- The task_struct of linux kernel 0.11
- When Linux Runs Out of Memory
- linux中gettimeofday用法
- Linux-0.11内核源码分析系列:内存管理free_page()与free_page_tables()函数分析
- 【脚本】Useful collection of linux bash scripts