WTHOT - Bruce Perens' Open Petition to Novell

This list is not normally given to politics, but in this case, our very ability to carry on ham radio Free Software may be in jeopardy.

Bruce Perens, K6BP, has authored an Open Petition to Protest the Microsoft-Novell Patent Agreement:

http://techp.org/petition/show/1

73, de Nate >>

 Wireless | Amateur Radio Station N0NB          |  Successfully Microsoft
  Amateur radio exams; ham radio; Linux info @  | free since January 1998.
             http://www.qsl.net/n0nb/           |  "Debian, the choice of
             My Kawasaki KZ-650 SR @            |     a GNU generation!"
        http://www.networksplus.net/n0nb/       |   http://www.debian.org

Bruce Perens has a long tradition of polemising, take the whole petition with alot of salt. Much more salt than you would want your doctor to know.

Perens also claims we kernel developers are taking a fresh look at the GPLv3 after what the Novell-Microsoft deal which is a pretty funny claim since those discussions have largely happened under the seal of privacy i.e. without him. But to summarize those discussions, so far neither the goals we're trying to achieve with the license nor our evaluation of the GPL v3 nor the situation have significantly been influenced by the MS-Novell deal.

Ralf