Re: [Sheflug] NVidia on SuSE and the SuSE/Novell/M$ thing

[Alex Hudson <home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris,

It's an interesting argument, but it doesn't really fit the facts.

On Thu, 2007-03-29 at 03:47 +0100, Chris Warburton wrote:
> Novell want to push SUSE into corporate environments, that means they
> need to improve compatibility with Microsoft Office macros and stuff to
> be taken seriously. Because of the nature of software patents they don't
> know whether they can implement this functionality in a 100% compatible
> way without infringing patents, so they get patent protection for their
> customers in case they do.

This is wrong in two ways. Firstly, Novell had already released their
Office macro compatibility stuff: they did this well before the MS deal
was on the table. I don't know of anything new Novell have released post
the MS agreement.

But secondly, and more importantly, Novell themselves have no patent
deal with MS: they are still liable, it's their customers that are
covered. Any patent litigation would be brought against Novell in the
first instance, and they're not protected against that.

They have also explicitly stated that they didn't reach this agreement
so that they could add patented technology into their software.
Remember, Novell themselves can and would be sued for doing that.

Cheers,

Alex.


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