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发表于 2006-11-21 23:18:03
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novell被M$公开调戏，鲍尔默又说“Linux侵犯了我们的知识产权”,看来连novell linux都
Novell严正声明：Linux没有侵犯微软
2006-11-21 16:19 来源:驱动之家 编辑:joejoe0332 查看作者博客
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声明：文章内容仅代表作者观点，与LUPA开源社区无关。
微软与Novell在本月初缔结合作伙伴关系看起来是个不错的消息，但鲍尔默一句“Linux侵犯了我们的知识产权”又引起了轩然大波。Novell今天在网站上发表了一封CEO Ron Hovsepian给社区的公开信，义正严词地指出Linux没有侵犯微软及其Windows的知识产权。
日前，在西雅图的SQL Server专业协会(PASS)大会上，鲍尔默接受了记者的采访。在谈到微软和Novell的交易以及双方关系的发展前景时，微软CEO阐述了微软这么做的原因，并谈了自己的一些想法——让人开心不起来的想法。
鲍尔默并没怎么谈论双方的合作以及如何生产更好的产品，而是把话题放在了Novell必须支付给微软的至少4000万美元上。根据交易，这笔钱是保证微软不起诉SUSE用户侵权的，鲍尔默则声称，Novell之所以要给微软这笔钱，是因为“Linux侵犯了我们的知识产权”，微软只是想“利用技术创新给自己的股东带来经济回报”。当然，鲍尔默没有深入展开这一话题的细节，而是很快转移到了其他方面，比如Novell如果不签署这一合作协议会有什么坏处。
所以，开源社区有理由更怀疑微软的动机了。微软多次抱怨知识产权问题，但却从未确切说明Linux到底偷了微软什么知识产权，包括鲍尔默在内的微软官员都对此保持了沉默态度。
Hovsepian驳斥了鲍尔默的说法，称“与微软的合作根本不是承认侵犯微软的任何知识产权”，也不是给微软一个炮轰开源的接口，只是为了让Windows和Linux更好地协作。因为客户的数据中心需要Windows和Linux一起工作，Novell才和微软达成合作，共同开发新的服务器管理技术与标准、虚拟化技术和文件格式兼容性。
Hovsepian表示，在Novell与微软合作后，将发布新的开源代码，以促进Linux与Windows的协作性，Linux社区也会从中获益。
至于专利问题，Hovsepian称只是个“小插曲”，因为微软希望能将其作为合作交易的一部分展开合作。“Novell和微软都保证不因为侵权问题起诉对方的客户，目的是让我们双方的用户放心，他们使用Windows会得到Novell的全力支持，使用Linux也会得到微软的全力支持。”
Hovsepian特别强调说，在签署合作协议的时候，Novell根本没有承认Linux或其他任何Novell产品侵犯了微软的专利。
也许我们应该看到，微软将根据交易向Novell支付4.42亿美元巨资，用于SUSE Linux产品的推广、发行和支持，是微软从Novell那里得到的11倍，不过4000万美元之前还有个“至少”，所以Novell掏出更多美元的可能性不小。问题的实质是，钞票的多少对微软来说不是大事儿，关键是背后的性质。
Novell公开信原文：
Open Letter to the Community from Novell
On November 2, Novell and Microsoft announced a significant, multi-part agreement to work together to improve the interoperability between Linux and Windows and for Microsoft to redistribute more than 350,000 subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise to the Windows customer base over a five-year period. This agreement is at the heart of what IT users demand — to deploy both Linux and Windows, and to have them work well together — and many companies have spoken out in support of this new cooperation.
Customers told us that they wanted Linux and Windows to work together in their data centers, and so we agreed to develop new technologies and standards in server management, virtualization and document file format compatibility. CIOs want to focus on their business, and they want their suppliers to focus on improving operating system interoperability. The Linux community will benefit from the creation and release of the open source code to improve Linux's interoperability with Windows that will result from this agreement.
Our interest in signing this agreement was to secure interoperability and joint sales agreements, but Microsoft asked that we cooperate on patents as well, and so a patent cooperation agreement was included as a part of the deal. In this agreement, Novell and Microsoft each promise not to sue the other's customers for patent infringement. The intended effect of this agreement was to give our joint customers peace of mind that they have the full support of the other company for their IT activities. Novell has a significant patent portfolio, and in reflection of this fact, the agreement we signed shows the overwhelming balance of payments being from Microsoft to Novell.
Since our announcement, some parties have spoken about this patent agreement in a damaging way, and with a perspective that we do not share. We strongly challenge those statements here.
We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.
Our stance on software patents is unchanged by the agreement with Microsoft. We want to remind the community of Novell's commitment to, and prior actions in support of, furthering the interests of Linux and open source, and creating an environment of free and open innovation. We have a strong patent portfolio and we have leveraged that portfolio for the benefit of the open source community. Specifically, we have taken the following actions:
We have stated our commitment to use our own software patents to protect open source technologies. more +
We have spoken out against EU legislation that would liberalize the standards for granting software patents. more +
We offer indemnification to our Linux customers accused of intellectual property infringement. more +
We have teamed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and other industry leaders to reduce the issuance of “bad patents” in the software area. more +
In 2005, we co-founded Open Invention Network (“OIN”), “an intellectual property company that was formed to promote Linux by using patents to create a collaborative environment.” Novell's substantial contributions to OIN were made to benefit not only ourselves, but also other Linux vendors, distributors and developers, and anyone else willing to commit not to assert their patents against Linux. more +
In closing, we wish to be extremely clear that Novell is committed to protecting, preserving and promoting freedom for free and open source software. We recognize that the community of open source developers is essential to all our activities in Linux, and we welcome dialog with the community as to how we can continue to work together toward these common goals.
Ron Hovsepian
Chief Executive Officer
Novell, Inc. |
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发表于 2006-11-19 21:35:28