05.09.07
Interoperability Shouldn’t Require an Agreement
Open Standards Will Do Just Fine, Thank You
On the heels of the confirmation by Novell’s Justin Steinman that the Microvell deal does indeed include a patent license, despite earlier denials, Red Hat has confirmed that they continue to hold conversations with Microsoft regarding improved interoperability between Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat, however, has no interest in signing any deal which will include closed APIs, and is unlikely interested in licensing any Microsoft intellectual property in order to do so.
Red Hat will only sign an interoperability agreement with Microsoft if it is based entirely on open standards, the company’s executive vice president of Engineering Paul Cormier told vnunet.com.
“Interoperability done on closed APIs isn’t interoperability,” Cormier said.
“We’ll never do interoperability based on closed APIs.”
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.