[sf-lug] More the deal between Microsoft and Novell

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Tony (vze2jy85 at yahoo.com):

> It looks like it might not be a Microsoft victory,
> although it is too early to say. 

I'd say establishing a precedent suggesting that people running Linux
systems need to pay Microsoft Corporation patent royalties, _especially_
when it's on patents they don't even have to identify, nor identify what
code allegedly infringes those patents, is significant.

The community has always been willing to do the work to either avoid
patented techniques in the first place, or secure royalty-free licensing
of those patent rights (e.g., PDF), or get the patents invalidated in
court.  However, all of those tactics require identification and
scrutiny of the patents in question.

It's pretty much irrelevant who's paying how much to whom.  The
important part is that patent protection money is being extracted
against a Linux distribution, with the patents themselves even
being brought before the public, to see what it's all about.