Dvorak On Microsoft/Novell Deal

zaxios writes, "John C. Dvorak has weighed in on the recent Novell-Microsoft pact. Among his insights: 'Microsoft has been leery of doing too much with Linux because of all the weirdness with the licenses and the possibility that one false move would make a Microsoft product public domain at worst, or subject to the GPL at best.' But now, 'the idea is to create some sort of code that is jammed into Linux and whose sole purpose is to let some proprietary code run under Linux without actually "touching" Linux in any way that would subject the proprietary code to the GPL.' According to Dvorak, it's only a matter of time before Linux is 'cracked' by Microsoft, meaning Microsoft figures out a way to run proprietary code on it."

I call bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

He has no idea of what he is talking about. Of course one can already run proprietary code in Linux. Many libraries are available under the LGPL instead of GPL. This deal does not change much to that fact.

Dvorak once again shows his cluelessness

[GauteL]

1. Use of a bit of GPL code mixed with proprietary code does not mean that All Your Code Are Belong To Us, it means that Microsoft would have to remove the GPL infringing code, and possibly pay damages to the copyright owner.

2. Nothing at all is stopping you from running proprietary code on a GNU/Linux system, as long as the GPL license on the GNU/Linux parts of the system is honoured. You can easily use the Linux kernel, the GNU Tools and put a proprietary graphical system on it or just running proprietary software packages. Apple uses quite a few GNU tools, yet keeps Aqua closed, and lots of vendors have released proprietary software packages for Linux.

run proprietary code on it?

[zotz]

"According to Dvorak, it's only a matter of time before Linux is 'cracked' by Microsoft, meaning Microsoft figures out a way to run proprietary code on it."

Gee, everyone else knows how to run proprietary code on linux. MS can't be too swift if they can't figure that.

Perhaps more is meant by "run on it"???

all the best,

drew
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/262954 [ourmedia.org]
Sayings - Deterred Bahamian Novel
CC BY-SA

Re:Hmmm .... Microsoft Linux?

[morgan_greywolf]

As scary as a 'Microsoft Linux' sounds, there'd actually be some significant advantages to Microsoft apps being able to run on Linux (as pointed out to me by another /. reader yesterday).

There is absolutely no reason why Microsoft can't write code that runs on Linux and still have it be proprietary.

Absolutely no reason at all.

The kernel is GPL, yes, but Linus' license modification clearly states that closed source code can run on the Linux kernel and shall not be considered a 'derivative work'.

Tons of proprietary code runs on Linux with absolutely no GPL issues: Oracle, Veritas Netbackup, WordPerfect, StarOffice (pieces are proprietary), etc.

As for toolkits, GTK+ is LGPL. Meaning Microsoft could target closed source GUI applications for GTK+ with no issues. QT is GPL unless you make arrangement$$$ with TrollTech.

As for desktops, some parts of GNOME are GPL, others are LGPL. Gotta be careful there, but if you just link against GTK+ and not GNOME libraries, Microsoft should be okay.

Re:Meta-flamebait

[Shawn is an Asshole]

Xen will run Win98 now if your processor supports virtualization. Otherwise, run VMWare player. Win98 works very well under it.

Re:Meta-flamebait - Yes

[SpaceLifeForm]

meaning Microsoft figures out a way to run proprietary code on it

There is nothing to figure out. You can run proprietary software on Linux today. Look at Oracle.

Re:Meta-flamebait

[T-Ranger]

Yes, but if the GPL is broken, its broken closed. By default, you have zero rights to use arbitrary software (let alone compile it, change it, redistribute it). With the GPL, users are granted some rights (with some obligations). If the GPL is invalidated, then the code reverts back to the "no license" mode of distribution: not allowed to do anything with it. Contract failure-mode is to shut things down, not open them up.

Re:Meta-flamebait

[DeepZenPill]

Here's him explaining his trolling strategy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWDYaWAVQQ [youtube.com]

Stop posting Dvorak stuff

[Sangbin]

Clearly, he is an idiot. Why are we still listening to them?
Stop submitting his articles. Stop accepting his articles.

Should I bother to RTFA?

[kimvette]

In >20 years how many times has Dvorak actually been right?

Also, last I checked, there is [sun.com] already proprietary [nero.com] software [adobe.com] for [zend.com] Linux [adobe.com] already [mainconcept.com] and GPL hasn't stopped them due to any viral "tainting."

(Yeah I know one of those is going GPL soon but isn't yet)

Then there are those which skirt the GPL and where the legality is questionable, such as NVidia's and ATI's video drivers.