I'm surprised it took as long as it did to make the big media....

Microsoft to face challenge over Linux licenses

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Supporters of the free PC operating system
Linux are preparing to counter a recent Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) deal which established for the first time the principle of paying the software giant to use Linux.
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Microsoft signed a deal with Novell Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL - news), one of the providers of Linux, in which Novell paid a lump sum in return for a guarantee that Microsoft would not sue Novell's clients for what it calls a violation of its own patents in the Linux program.

Eban Moglen, one of the pioneers of free software, said Microsoft's deal skirts the requirements of the GNU General Public License, used by Linux and other free programs, which requires the software to be given away.

He said he and others have started work on updating the license to close the loophole by inserting a clause stating that a promise not to sue, such as the one given by Microsoft, would be automatically applicable to everyone.

That would effectively flip Microsoft's agreement on its head and guarantee that no one would face a suit from Microsoft if anyone were protected.

"A clause like that would not be difficult to get community agreement on these days," Moglen said, adding that a change could be ready in weeks or months.

A spokesman for Novell, Bruce Lowry, said: "We don't want to speculate on what would happen under the next version of the GNU General Public License because things are still in motion." Microsoft had no comment.

This will kick the GPL timebomb down the road a bit.

Linux users have to face the reality that the GPL is broken. Very broken. I have predicted for years that the GPL -the very thing that started the Linux phenomenon- would ultimately be the death of it.

Stallman claims he wants "freedom" but the GPL does the exact opposite. If he's all about freedom, let's use the BSD license. Stallman wants software to have "freedom" but put restrictions on people. Rather bizarre when you stop and think about it.