RSSTechEd 2007: Xandros Becomes Second Linux Vendor to License MS IP
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published June 4, 2007, 8:55 AM
ORLANDO [3:45 pm ET June 4, 2007] - At TechEd 2007 in Orlando this morning, although there were few product announcements from the keynotes, Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia announced that Xandros has become the second Linux vendor to license Microsoft's intellectual property for use with Linux, following in Novell's footsteps.
We learned more about the deal this afternoon from the two companies involved in the deal: It is indeed a patent covenant arrangement, which the company told BetaNews is similar to the one Microsoft reached with Novell last year. "Xandros will now be able to employ Linux in their future products with the assurance that intellectual property is valued and respected, while their customers will have intellectual property peace of mind," a spokesperson for Microsoft's intellectual property team wrote to BetaNews this afternoon. "Through this agreement Xandros and Microsoft will focus on improved systems management, server interoperability, office document compatibility and patent assurance."
Specifically, Xandros will be updating its Systems Management product line, and Microsoft will be endowing its forthcoming System Center line, with interoperability tools that will enable end-to-end service management in heterogenous networks involving the two companies' systems. These tools should operate regardless of which one is on what end. Numerous Microsoft server management protocols will be licensed to Xandros to enable its tools to participate in the management of these systems - this is where the intellectual property licensing comes in.
Xandros will also be joining Microsoft in the production of document conversion functionality between Open XML and OpenDocument Format, which is another step Novell took in its agreement last year.
This really bites.
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|I heard that both of Xandros's customers are ashamed.
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|Xandros will also be joining Microsoft in the production of document conversion functionality between Open XML and OpenDocument Format.
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How's that working out for MCAN and Corel so far? Haven't heard a peep out of them since MCAN's first version spontaneously combusted. What's funny is that Microsoft is handing over its patent rights through these deals under GPLv3. So maybe they're not going to be suing everyone a la RIAA/SCO-style after all. Pretty sad that this deep into the 21st century, Microsoft has all but given up writing code anymore. They just buy what they need from Open Source.
On a side note, I ran Fedora_7 all weekend and wow, its graphics blows both Vista and OSX out of the water.
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|Maybe Linux will start to work now, instead of installing beautifully and then as usual, failing to work miserably when it comes to dealing with what normally would be easy tasks.
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|If Ubuntu and RedHat sign on also, I'm switching to Mac.
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|Switch now, why wait? Go pay their over priced system. Not to mention their limited software software.
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|Quite honestly I would gladly pay the price for a Mac as long as I'm not feeding another red cent to Microsoft.
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|If I did my math correctly, at $ 399 per Windows Vista Ultimate license, that would add up to 39,900 red coins that you'll have to paint blue before handling them to M$ ... :P
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|lol, nice one
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|Using a minimum of code (much of it generated automatically), Goldfarb was able to endow Outlook 2007 with a "hook,
Did they give it a parrot, too? Can't have a hook without a parrot.
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|...a peg leg, eye patch and *arrrggh*.
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|So this would be a good day to slip out and take in the attractions.
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|The video preceded Muglia's and Lloyd's entrance on stage in the authentic DeLorean, where Lloyd as "Doc" deputized himself to serve as Muglia's personal "MS-BS Detector," lest he infuse the present timeline with enough MS-BS to disrupt the present timeline and threaten all humanity - as the video demonstrated - with being acquired by what could best be described as "The Wrath of Bob." (Not Bob Muglia, the other "Bob.")
What?
That's one hell of a sentence. Too bad, even after reading it several times, it makes no sense.
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|You're so right. When you're writing from the floor on four channels at once (notes, input, tape channel, IM), you can sometimes make no sense. Anyway, I hope I've cleared it up.
-SF3
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|Good God, man. You turned one sentence into 8 paragraphs??!?!?111oneone...
I'm going to start calling you the Energizer Bunny.
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