Free Software Foundation to Microsoft: You are not above the law
Microsoft may wish that it were above the law, but the Free Software Foundation has issued a press release calling Microsoft to repentance for its efforts to deny GPLv3's hold on it.
We do not...agree with Microsoft's characterization of the situation involving GPLv3. Microsoft cannot by any act of anticipatory repudiation divest itself of its obligation to respect others' copyrights. If Microsoft distributes our works licensed under GPLv3, or pays others to distribute them on its behalf, it is bound to do so under the terms of that license. It may not do so under any other terms; it cannot declare itself exempt from the requirements of GPLv3.
Microsoft has said that it expects respect for its so-called "intellectual property"--a propaganda term designed to confuse patent law with copyright and other unrelated laws, and to muddy the different issues they raise. We will ensure--and, to the extent of our resources, assist other GPLv3 licensors in ensuring--that Microsoft respects our copyrights and complies with our licenses.
Them's fighting words, and rightly so. Microsoft is in no position to determine which open-source licenses it respects. If it distributes software under the GPLv3, it is bound to abide by its terms. Period. End of story.
I suspect that if Microsoft pushes this issue, it will find a long list of people happy to fund the FSF's lawsuits against Microsoft. Microsoft is basically throwing down the gauntlet on open source, and not merely one license. It will find it has many enemies in such an endeavor.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
Microsoft is saying that GPLv3 has no impact on their deal with Novell.
Microsoft is not "pushing the issue". The only entity that can "push the issue" is the FSF/SFLC.
Maybe there will be a long list of people, but a short list of vendors (with much deeper pockets) to aid this fight. Without a deep analysis of the pros/cons, it seems there is very little upside in vendors offering the FSF/SFLC the financial backing required to try this case.
But I'm not a lawyer, so I'll defer to your thoughts....
PS: keep up the great work - even if I don't agree with you all the time! ;-)
If OSS had no impact on MS and its future it wouldn't be spending hundreds of millions spreading FUD and trying to get all the distro makers to lie down with MS.
If OSS had no impact on MS and its future it wouldn't be spending hundreds of millions spreading FUD and trying to get all the distro makers to lie down with MS.
MS trying to avoid GPLv3 is just another sign of the fear of MS. They can wiggle all they want, but they are a bug that is pinned down on a cork board.
- by stevenwhite1975 June 17, 2008 6:35 AM PDT
- I do not agree with the guy who commented"by krispa1 August 28, 2007 11:16 AM PDT
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(6 Comments)i wonder why nobody have been commenting your blogs..i guess prolly because you are not making any reasonable sense"
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