Et tu, Xandros?…
Xandros, a small Linux Distro, has become the latest open source vendor to sign a Novell-like “patent protection” deal with Microsoft. Though essentially protection deals, they all try to achieve legitimacy by claiming to be some type of broader collaboration agreement.
Unfortunately, these agreements have nothing to do with advancing technology, and everything to do with helping Microsoft establish a framework for a “legal victory” against open source. Much like it’s own competitors did to it during the 1990′s, Microsoft wants to use the legal system to help it win a battle that it hasn’t been able to win in the marketplace.
But they want to use it in a very different way…
Microsoft’s goal is to never actually step foot in a courtroom. They have been in that position, and have been slapped around too much by courts across the globe to want to do it again. Instead, they want to create the perception that any firm using “free software” will somehow place themselves in legal jeopardy. They believe they can accomplish what they want through legal intimidation.
To bolster that, they are trying to split the open source community into two camps – those that are “safe and compliant” (and are paying off Microsoft), and those that “flaunt intellectual property” . In tandem, they will continue making noises about vague patent violations to hopefully scare any lawsuit shy corporations into choosing either the safer alternative – or better yet staying on Windows.
And they are leveraging the nature of the open source community to make that happen…
Though it shares a common ethos, the open source community isn’t some well organized, cohesive entity. It is a loose affiliation of ideas, directions, and egos all swimming together in a pool of cooperation and competition. And in a true Darwinian manner, some code lines and packages in that pool get cut off and die, while others survive and thrive. It is this intense intellectual competition that makes the open source movement so powerful. Great things emerge from the interplay within this passionate community of really bright, driven people.
It’s a process that delivers a true “Best Of Breed”…
Microsoft recognizes how this works, and is looking for the weakest, most vulnerable members of the community to splinter off with promises of protection. No doubt a 2nd tier Linux distro like Xandros saw this deal as a way to better their position in the market place by making them a “safe” choice for large firms to make. That is really unfortunate. The perception of validity for Microsoft’s patent infringement claims is directly tied to the number of open source vendors they can point to that have some type of license agreement with them.
With each new “defection”, Microsoft’s hand grows stronger…
The open source community needs to circle the wagons here. GPLv3 need to be ratified as quickly as possible. They also likely need to pursue a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Microsoft on this issue and force their hand.
And most of all, they all need to just say no…