Ballmer: "Linux Users Owe Me Money"
Finally Microsoft pulled the expected rabbit called 'FUD' all the way out of the hat. Redmond had been hinting for a few years that the rabbit was hiding in there, but VOILA here it is! Ballmer now boldly claims that Linux "uses our intellectual property". It had been widely suspected in the open-source community that Redmond would pull the "Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property" caper one day, and they were right.
It happened in a Q&A session after Ballmer's keynote at a Seattle SQL Server conference. He said he thought it was a good idea to sign a deal with Novell (which distributes SUSE Linux) because Linux "uses our intellectual property" and he wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."
So the deal with Novell makes Windows and SUSE play nice together. Redmond will pay Novell $440 million for coupons that provide one year SUSE support and maintenance, with MS pushing SUSE. But the other bit was Novell paying MS 40 Mil 'protection money', so they will not get sued for infringement. Pretty much everyone using and contributing to SUSE is free from prosecution. Makes Redmond look pretty good in court if they try to sue other Linux distros.
FUD ALERT: "Novell pays us some money for the right to tell customers that anybody who uses SUSE Linux is appropriately covered," Ballmer said. This "is important to us, because [otherwise] we believe every Linux customer basically has an undisclosed balance-sheet liability."
Interesting perspective came from Pamela Jones, editor of the Groklaw site. "My reaction is that so far, what he [Ballmer] said is just more FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt]," "Let him sue if he thinks he has a valid claim, and we'll see how well his customers like it." Obviously open-source advocates want Redmond to show exactly which lines of Linux kernel code are the culprits and rip them out, or work around them.
Ballmer continued with the following pretty clear message: "Only customers that use SUSE have paid properly for intellectual property from Microsoft," he said. "We are willing to do a deal with Red Hat and other Linux distributors." The deal with SUSE Linux "is not exclusive,"
However, a potential deal between those two companies will have to wait until the end of 2009, as Novell and Microsoft signed an exclusivity agreement barring MS from establishing similar agreements with other Linux vendors for the next three years. Imagine that, all Linux open-source users paying Redmond for using that code. I thought the whole open-source idea was trying to get away from that. Echoes of SCO anyone? I'm sure the last word has not been spoken about this issue.
