John Turner

Recently, Microsoft has signed agreements with Xandros, Novell, and Linspire aimed at protecting users of those Linux distributions from damages related to unspecified patents. Microsoft claims that Linux infringes on 235 of their patents but RedHat and Canonical (the commercial backer of Ubuntu) are not buying it.

RedHat stated that their position remains unchanged, according to ZDNet Australia. Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical, posted a comprehensive explanation of his position and opinion of these agreements. In short, Shuttleworth believes that Microsoft is no friend to Linux or free software and takes the time to explain why. He sums up the recent agreements with Microsoft as “trinkets in exchange for air kisses”. Ouch!!