5 Operating Systems Starting 2011 With a Bang

“3. Novell SUSE Linux: Patent Deal Still on Despite the
Germans

“Earlier this month, I mentioned that the Open Source Initiative
asked the German Bundeskartellamt to look into Novell’s sale of a
bucket-load of patents to CPTN, a company that’s a front for
Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle. The sale is part of a deal that
involves Attachmate buying Novell, maker of the SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server operating system and other open source
software.

“Since then came news that CPTN had canceled its application to
exist as a German business entity, prompting speculation that
Microsoft et al. were retreating from the deal. Now it emerges that
that is not the case, and the deal is very much still on.
Responding from an inquiry by Microsoft blog Techflash, Microsoft
explained, “This is a purely procedural step necessary to provide
time to allow for review of the proposed transaction.”

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