Microsoft, Linspire Sign Linux Patent Deal
546144
Linspire Inc. has signed an intellectual-property agreement with Microsoft Corp. that shields the Linux company&#39;s customers from patent claims.
761244
Microsoft teams Linux distributor to craft a single sign-on system for mixed Windows/Linux networks.
587079
Microsoft and LG Electronics sign cross-licensing patent agreement that covers Linux-based embedded devices.
157505
Seeking to be more competitive with Microsoft Corp., Linux backers have agreed on a standard version of the operating system so that programs written for one Linux distribution will work with others.
705010
The company which at one time blatantly attacked Microsoft's position on the consumer desktop with what was then called "Lindows," a Linux distro aimed at low-price systems sold in major department stores, announced today a 180-degree change of tack, adding its name to those of Novell and Xandros to become the third Linux distributor to reach a patent covenant agreement with Microsoft. In finding the courage to shake hands with the enemy, Linspire's president and CEO this morning publicly compared himself to Steve Jobs.
463671
PC Magazine - Linux supporters are preparing to counter a recent deal penned by Microsoft which establishes the principle of paying the software giant for the OS, whose license requires it to be free.
31982
Users of the Linux operating system will get patent protection and access to updated Windows Media technology.
168808
Linux maker hints it may convince Microsoft to honor its patents, as with other Linux vendors.
326328
Microsoft Corp. said Monday it will share technology with Linux distributor Xandros Inc., the latest in a string of deals meant to help the patent-protected Windows operating system work more smoothly with open-source programs.
744436
REDMOND, Wash., and SEOUL, South Korea, June 6  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. and LG Electronics (LGE) today announced that they have entered into a patent cross-license agreement to further the development of the companies' current and future product lines.
259833
InfoWorld - Microsoft's aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than "a marketing thing," according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.
243731
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.
104536
Let Lindows be Lindows When not threatening to sue Linux makers, Microsoft can't help itself from partnering with them. Redmond today announced a buddy-buddy deal with desktop Linux maker Linspire.â¦
670428
It's the start of a new era for the company that once argued that giving away the keys to its protocols would somehow reveal the secret of Windows itself: Microsoft has made its first obligatory agreement with a key open source provider.
682777
Developers of open-source Samba software will find their work a little easier thanks to an agreement with Microsoft, signed Thursday, that will give them access to previously secret data on how the Windows operating system works.Microsoft was compelled to make this information available following a March 24, 2004, European Commission antitrust ruling against the company. In July 2006, the EU fined Microsoft &#8364;280.5 million ($338.6 million at that time) for failing to provide documentation on Windows protocols to its rivals.&#160;Microsoft lost an appeal of that decision&#160;in September, setting the stage for the deal.The deal was signed with a nonprofit group called the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation, (PFIF) which negotiated on behalf of the Samba team because Samba is not represented by a corporate entity. PFIF will pay a one-time fee of &#8364;10,000 and, in return, will be able to allow open-source developers, including the Samba team, to access the documents.Developers will have to sign nondisclosure agreements and will not be allowed to redistribute Microsoft&#39;s documentation, but they will be able to write open-source software that implements the Windows protocols. The deal will also clarify which patents Microsoft believes are related to this technology, making it easier for open-source developers to avoid patent violations.Antitrust rulings forced Microsoft to set up protocol-licensing programs in the past, including the MCPP (Microsoft Communications Protocol Program) and the WSPP (Work Group Server Protocol Program), but these efforts were not compatible with open-source software licenses.That is apparently not a problem with the PFIF agreement.&quot;They&#39;re giving us all the documentation to make everything work,&quot; said Jeremy Allison, co-author of Samba. &quot;We will have no more excuses to suck &#8230; if we don&#39;t have something, we won&#39;t be able to say it&#39;s not our fault, we don&#39;t know how to do it.&quot;Samba is an open-source version of the file-and-print software used by Windows. It is a standard component of the Linux and Unix operating systems, allowing these systems to share data and work alongside Windows clients.But development of Samba has traditionally been back-breaking work. Developers would analyze network traffic to try and glean how Windows was working and then build their software based on that knowledge -- a process called reverse-engineering.With the new agreement, developers will have access to Microsoft&#39;s own protocol specifications and will be able to build their software based on those documents, Allison said. That, in turn, will accelerate the team&#39;s development of its next generation of software, which will implement the new Sever Message Block 2.0 protocol used by Windows Vista.Though the deal was reached on Thursday, developers were still waiting for the final technical aspects of the document hand-over to be settled, Allison said. He expects to get his hands on the technical specifications fairly soon. &quot;I&#39;m guessing that for my Christmas vacation I&#39;ll have some enjoyable things to read,&quot; he said.
770060
TechWeb - Earlier this month, Linspire, which also distributes a desktop version of Linux, became the latest open-source software distributor to sign a pact with Microsoft.
403142
Microsoft Corp.  and South  Korea&#39;s LG Electronics (066570.KS) said on Thursday they agreed  a patent cross-licensing deal, sending LG shares to their  highest in more than a year.