[Fsf-friends] where were the 'poster boys'

[Praveen A]

2008/12/14 Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil <vu2swx at gmail.com>:
> Also for future events there must be a clear policy on sponsors.  If  we
> allow one sponsor to bring in a windows laptop ( whether it is SBT or some
> other big shot.) , there is no point in objecting novell /Microsoft.
>

I'm pasting something I wrote about Novell with respect to their deal
with Microsoft in another list

Novell's idea is different. The main issue with Novell's deal with
Microsoft is patents. They have provided legitimacy to Microsoft
patent claims on Free Software and they have divided the community
into those who pay Microsoft and those who do not making Microsoft's
job of suing Free Software users without including their own customers
(one of the biggest reason why they don't do it at the moment). It
also against the spirit of the GPL. They found a loop hole in the
wordings and exploited it. GPL v2 talked about patent license and what
Novell did was patent license in effect - they used the word "covenant
not to sue" to evade GPL. But the community fixed the loop hole in
GPLv3 by saying any deal that result in "not getting sued for patents"
irrespective of the words and tricks will be a violation of GPL.

- Praveen
-- 
പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍
<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)
Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now!
http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign