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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