Microsoft Keeps Patent Threat Handy In Novell Linux Pact

摘要

If businesses insist on using Linux alongside Windows, Microsoft has decided it prefers that it be Suse Linux—and not enterprise server market leader Red Hat. To persuade others to that point of view, Microsoft inked a patent-licensing agreement with Novell promising not to sue users of Suse Linux for patent infringement. And it left that hammer hovering over other Linux users. "This covenant does not apply to any other form of Linux than Suse Linux," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last week in announcing the Novell pact. "If your firm wants to use one of the others, you will have all the compliance and intellectual property issues as before."