"Zink added that the covenants, which also extend to those
companies such as Novell which agree to cross-license, "give
understanding and certainty to people".
"However, Microsoft's patent moves may damage its standing in
the open source community. Allison said that Samba will not trust
Microsoft as long as the software company maintains and pursues
patent claims against Linux.
""While Microsoft has started to sue companies for using
technologies in Linux and other free software then, no, Samba is
not going to trust them," wrote Allison. "Trust is a two-way
street.""