Truth about Microsoft's Linux deal revealed

"Novell has published details of its landmark November 2006 partnership agreements with Microsoft.

The versions of the three agreements it signed with Microsoft were published in its annual 10K filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, providing the public with its first detailed look into a deal that some see as critical to the future of Linux. The 10K filing had been delayed by an internal stock options review at Novell, which was concluded last week."

"Linux advocates are expected to scour the documents for signs of how the agreement may affect Linux and whether anything in it will put Microsoft or Novell in potential violation of the upcoming Version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL)."

"Open-source advocate Bruce Perens said he would be looking to see exactly what Novell was given through the deal and whether there is any requirement for the Linux vendor to defend Microsoft's patent claims. "What I'm actually looking for is, to what extent was there a violation of faith?" he said." -- Read more

Update: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has an article providing an excellent rundown on this topic: "Novell/Microsoft patent deal secrets". With consideration for the latest information that we're getting about the deal, its implications and especially its relation to GPLv2 and GPLv3 SJVN concluded: "When the Novell/Microsoft deal was first revealed, it was widely seen as an attack on Linux and open-source. As we learn more about the deal's details, though, it appears to be more of a double-edged sword than anyone could have foreseen."

This would say that if this was an attack it is just about to bounce back to Microsoft leaving the Free Software community largely unharmed and even stronger (because it learned from the deal).