Microsoft signs rare open-source deal, under EU orders
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Microsoft signed a rare deal with an  open source software group on Thursday, taking a step to meet  sanctions imposed by the European Commission in 2004 for  antitrust violations.
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Microsoft Corp  ended three years of resistance on Monday, finally agreeing to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission.
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The Open Source Initiative's board has accepted two of Microsoft's so-called shared-source software licenses as valid mechanisms for distributing open-source technologies.
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MacCentral - Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said that it is looking for ways to work more closely with developers of the Open Office open source project, while at the same time, apparently reserving the right to sue them, according to a legal agreement between Microsoft and Open Office's major sponsor, Sun Microsystems Inc., made public this week.
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Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said that is looking for ways to work more closely with developers of the Open Office open source project, while at the same time, apparently reserving the right to sue them, according to a legal agreement between Microsoft and Open Office's major sponsor, Sun Microsystems Inc., made public this week.
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Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said that it is looking for ways to work more closely with developers of the Open Office open source project, while at the same time, apparently reserving the right to sue them, according to a legal agreement between Microsoft and Open Office's major sponsor, Sun Microsystems Inc., made public this week.
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(InfoWorld) - Novell has published details of its landmark November 2006Â Linux partnership agreements with Microsoft. Novell published on Friday redacted versions of the three agreements it signed with Microsoft in its annual 10K filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, providing the public with itsÂ first detailed lookÂ into a deal that some see as critical to the future of Linux. The 10K filing had been delayed by an internal stock options review at Novell, which was concluded Wednesday. Under the terms of the agreements, Microsoft will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on licensing fees and sales and marketing costs over five years, including $240 million for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription certificates. For its part, Novell has agreed to pay Microsoft a percentage of revenue from open-source products. [ SEE ALSO:Â Microsoft, Novell defend pactÂ | Special Report:Â Microsoft takes aim at open source, LinuxÂ ] Linux advocates are expected to scour the documents for signs of how the agreement may affect Linux and whether anything in it will put Microsoft or Novell inÂ potential violation of the upcoming version 3 of the GNU General Public license (GPL). The GPL is used in licensing many components of the Linux operating system. Open-source advocate Bruce Perens said he would be looking to see exactly what Novell was given through the deal and whether there is any requirement for the Linux vendor to defend Microsoft's patent claims. "What I'm actually looking for is, to what extent was there a violation of faith?" he said. Microsoft has claimedÂ that Linux violates more than 235 of its patents, and because the deal offers patent protection to Novell users, it is seen as potentially driving a wedge in the Linux community. "Novell had a choice here, and Novell's choice was to be in the same boat with the rest of the free software community, or not," Perens said. Based on an initial reading of the documents, Perens said the deal does not appear to provide full patent protection to Linux users. "Novell did not get complete rights regarding Microsoft patents," he said. "For example, office productivity applications are specifically excluded. ... OpenOffice.org is excluded by name, WINE and Open-Xchange are excluded by name," Novell executives declined to be interviewed about the filings. "We've already provided the high-level comments when we announced the deal in November -- around making Linux and Windows work better together, the areas of tech cooperation, the covenants not to sue. All the customer-focus stuff that drove the deal," said Novell spokesman Bruce Lowry, via instant message. "The agreements provide more meat on the bones in support of those objectives." The patent agreement between the two companies seems to make it clear that Novell does not accept any of Microsoft's patent claims. Section 3.4 says, "Nothing in this Agreement shall imply, or be construed as an admission or acknowledgement by a Party, that any Patents of the other Party are infringed, valid or enforceable." Microsoft and Novell say the deal has helped push Linux adoption in the enterprise by promoting interoperability between the two platforms. Contrary to its image as a threat to open source and Linux, Microsoft is the chief source of Linux business for Novell, and the deal between the two companies has been a boon for SUSE Linux, said Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Novell's Linux and Open Platform Solutions, speaking earlier this week. "Microsoft was Novell's number one channel partner in the first quarter of 2007," he said. "We've seen 60 percent (first-quarter) growth in SUSE, year over year." Paul Roberts, a senior editor at InfoWorld, contributed to this story.
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SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Continuing its flirtation with open-source, Microsoft Corp. on Monday posted the code of a little-known collaboration application to open-source development site SourceForge.
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In a deal that could lead to the creation of a unique cross-platform authentication system for heterogenous networks, Tokyo-based Linux distributor Turbolinux announced this morning, Japan time, it has reached an agreement with Microsoft for a cross-licensing of the two companies' patent portfolios.
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As part of a European antitrust settlement, Microsoft will supply Windows protocol documentation to developers of the open-source software.
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LONDON -- In a deal that appears to buck the growing trend among governments to adopt open-source alternatives, the U.K.'s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is negotiating a renewal of a three-year agreement with Microsoft Corp.
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Microsoft announced on Thursday its first software licensing deal under a program mandated by a 2004 European Commission anti-trust ruling.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Under threat of new multimillion fines, Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that it had signed up its first licensee for a scheme EU regulators told it to set up three years ago to share code that helps servers work with the Windows operating platform.
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Following a three-year international investigation, Microsoft has reached agreement with a contractor that illegally produced and distributed counterfeit copies of the company's server software.
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Responding to requests, Microsoft will sponsor open-source project to build translators between older office formats and Open XML.
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Microsoft Corp ended three years of  resistance on Monday, finally agreeing to comply with a  landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission.
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Like many, I was pretty shocked by the recent Microsoft-EU deal to settle the long-running investigation into interoperability issues.  This was not so much because of the way Microsoft has used every kind of delaying tactic it could before eventually agreeing (for the nth time) to try harder in the future.  My real dismay was provoked by the gap between appearance and reality â a chasm that I think bodes ill for the future of open source. read more