Novell's Stone Stumps For Business Viability Of Open Source, Mar 17, 2004

Novell Vice Chairman Chris Stone stumped for the viability of an open-source business model to kick off the Open Source Business Conference Tuesday, emphasizing a theme that will likely be repeated at Novell's BrainShare next week.

Stone defended Novell's choice to support Linux by investing over $250 million to buy Linux vendors Ximian and SUSE Linux. He said the move was not intended to replace Novell's longstanding investment in the NetWare operating system, but rather complement it.

Taking Java open source would ruin its development by creating incompatible versions, according to Sun's top software executive

Sun Microsystems is reluctant to make Java source code available through an open-source model because it would encourage incompatible versions of the software, Sun's top software executive said.

We often get review units of products, then don't review them because we can't get them to work. NewsForge staffers and freelancers vary in technical ability, but I believe the level of IT talent shared by our editorial personnel is at least as high as you'd find in most small or medium-sized businesses, and well above the average home user level. If we can't get a piece of hardware or software to work, chances are that most of its intended customers won't be able to, either. Why do companies persist in shipping products this flawed?

To complete previous question, I’d like to ask you, what in your opinion unites the free/open-source software community. What makes individuals to come together? What are the building blocks or are there any?

PJ: There are real differences that I don't minimize but at the moment, the SCO matter makes them fairly unimportant, to me. Later, if everyone wishes to go back to arguing about that, they will have that luxury. There is, however, one part of the old argument that I think we don't need to repeat: namely the value of the GPL. Stallman took a lot of abuse, but he never wavered. I think the entire world owes him a thank you for that. I couldn't have done what he did, year in and year out, being verbally attacked and humiliated and abused, his motives questioned, his personality mocked, his beliefs misrepresented. But because he was firm in his convictions, the GPL stands between us and SCO's attempted software land grab.

mozilla.org staff member Gervase Markham has posted an open letter to the Mozilla newsgroups addressed to those who sell goods bearing the Mozilla name or logos: "The following is an open letter to anyone selling Mozilla-branded merchandise. It's being posted rather than emailed in the spirit of openness, and to ensure everyone who needs to read it can see a copy."

The letter urges those selling products with the Mozilla insignia to stop and contact the Mozilla Foundation for further discussion on how to proceed. Noting that the retailing of Mozilla-branded wares without permission is an infringment of the Foundation's trademark rights, the letter hints that legal action may taken against those who refuse to heed the advice. Read the full article to see the complete letter.

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In an effort to reach a settlement with European regulators, Microsoft's chief executive, Steven A. Ballmer, met with Europe's top antitrust official, Mario Monti, on Tuesday, just over a week before regulators are expected to find that Microsoft abused its dominance in operating software.

Talks broke off early evening Tuesday and are expected to resume either face-to-face or by phone on Wednesday morning, according to people close to the talks.

Mr. Monti's spokeswoman, Amelia Torres, told reporters: "There's been a meeting today. Discussions are ongoing. That's all I'll say."

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