basically tech

83 Ubuntu rejects Microsoft deal

Tuesday 19th June, 2007

Canonical, the corporate sponsor of Ubuntu Linux, has rejected an intellectual property deal with Microsoft because it refuses to reveal details of the patents that it claims are being violated in open source software. To quote Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical:

"A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for."

This makes previous signees Novell, Xandros and (more recently) Linspire appear to be a little hasty, and it must be said, somewhat lacking in courage and foresight.

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