“Two weeks ago I wrote a letter protesting Novell’s patent
agreement with Microsoft and made it available for other people to
sign. I expected 200-300 signatures for this rather technical
matter about patents and licensing, but there are 2700 signatures
as I write this, and the number keeps increasing. Many of the
signers attached notes directed at Novell, filled with emotion.
Obviously, the Free Software community feels very strongly about
this issue. But Free Software is not the only party represented.
Many of the signers identify themselves as recent Novell VARs and
institutional customers who will now turn to another Linux
distribution.“If you haven’t read the letter, you should do so now, as the
arguments in it still stand. Since I wrote the letter, Novell and
others have raised some arguments of their own, most of which are
faulty. I’ll deal with them here…”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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