[OT]: Novell's Intentions (Was: Misc. bits.)

[Scott Elcomb]

Is it just me, or does Novell look like it's trying to play both sides
of the fence?

On 7/10/07, Colin McGregor <colinmc151-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> The fact that the SAMBA people have decided to convert
> to GPL 3 is in my books a great thing. This will make
> life rough for Novell and/or Microsoft, as either
> Novell has to either fork a piece of software that is
> key to their Microsoft compatibility efforts or they
> have to drag Microsoft kicking and screaming (which
> they have already started doing) into GPL 3.

I'd like to think that Novell has been acting, secretly, like a
double-agent for FOSS.  Whether that's true or not probably depends on
which way the wind is blowing.

My personal opinion of recent media releases regarding GPLv3 is that
M$ is in deep $hit.

But, of course, that doesn't mean a damn.  Perhaps Novell will yet
prove valuable in the demise of Micro$soft.

> So, will bugs appear in GPL 3, almost certainly yes. I
> could see laws getting passed that would blunt GPL 3,
> out of malice or a law passed in to fix one real
> problem causing some unplanned problem with GPL3.
>
> Regardless, the idea that if you get a piece of GPL 3
> software and then distribute it, the people who get
> that software must have the same freedom you had is
> central. If 5, 10 or 20 years down the road a GPL 4
> needs to be written, fine, so be it.

Aargh!  Someone kill the life cycle already!  Isn't there a
"Philosopher's Stone" for Software Development?

-- 
Scott Elcomb  [ http://www.psema4.com/ ]

"Our Founders' faith in the viability of representative democracy
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