JetLib News

geek4 sends in an analysis indicating that Microsoft may have the most to lose if hedge-fund operator Elliott buys Novell. (The eWeekEurope piece is based on a longer and geekier writeup by Andy Updegrove on how the mechanics of an unsolicited tender offers can play out in the tech world.) To avoid meltdown or asset-stripping, Novell can try and find a preferred bidder — a company with some interest in running Novell as a business, and preferrably a tech company. Or another company may make a move independently. But who might that be? A couple of analysts have suggested IBM, Oracle, or SAP. These all have problems… Microsoft is in a similar category, with one added problem. … Microsoft has staked any open source credibility that it has on Novell’s SUSE distribution. If Novell falls to bits, then Microsoft’s efforts to gain open source cred pretty much disappear with it. It’s something that would have been impossible to imagine a few years back, but if we’re looking for someone to prop Novell up, Microsoft would now be a prime candidate.”

Source: Why Microsoft Can’t Afford To Let Novell Die

Andy Updegrove writes “A short while ago the parties to one of the most closely watched FOSS cases filed a settlement agreement with the US Federal District Court for the Northern District of California ending one of the most important F/OSS legal cases to date. That case is Jacobsen vs. Katzer, and the settlement marks a complete victory for Jacobsen, a member of the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI) Project. Jacobsen’s victory establishes several important rights for the first time in the US: the right to prevent their copyright and authorship acknowledgments from being removed from their code, and the right to collect damages if the terms of the licenses they choose are violated. Until now, those rights had never been tested in court.”

Source: Jacobsen v Katzer Settled — Victory For F/OSS

Andy Updegrove writes “Think of the words “standards war,” and if you’re of a certain age you’re likely to think of the battle between the Betamax and VHS video tape formats. Fast forward, and you’ll recall we just finished another video standards war between most of the same companies, this time between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Well, here we go again, except this time its the movie studios that are duking it out, and DRM issues is a big part of it. On the one side are five of the six major studios, dozens of cable, hardware, software, distribution and device vendors, and on the other side there’s just Disney — and maybe Apple as well, and that’s enough to have the other side worried.”

Source: Here We Go Again — Video Standards War 2010

Andy Updegrove writes “As you may recall, Microsoft announced back on September 10 that it had launched a new, open source organization called the CodePlex Foundation. Since then, it has announced Project Acceptance and Operation Guidelines, its first ‘Gallery’ (a project area), supporting Microsoft’s ASP.NET, and two projects in that gallery. But it had also launched in a ‘less than open’ state with an interim Board of Directors, and a promise to elect a permanent one in 100 days. Problem is, December 19 — the 100 day mark — passed quietly, with no announcement of a new Board or a status update on the other goals it had set for the launch period. So what’s up with the CodePlex Foundation, and its pledge to promptly transition into a more independent organization?”

Source: Codeplex 100 Day Deadline Passes Unremarked