Another (Poor) Company Bites the Dust for Meaningless Marketshare

The Linux community as a whole has been in an uproar over the string of "plea deals" to ensure "patent security" that Microsoft has initiated in an attempt to usurp the legitimacy of Linux itself.

First was Novell, which angered a lot of people due to the fact that Novell has a well rounded patent portfolio in regards to Linux technologies. Some saw it as a "good" thing. openSuSe users were a bit peeved as it was like a slap to the face. Heck, Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu's fame even threw out an open letter for the angered and/or disappointed openSuSe developers to join the Kubuntu effort.

Then it was Xandros and their "partnership" deal with Microsoft for proprietary "interoperability". Which is almost a double edge sword... The Linux Action Show's next episode this Sunday will feature an interview with the Xandros CEO on their take of the partnership. Xandros never got my respect as it has an "activation key" to use the basic edtions that are sold at computer shops and the Free version is not supported. The last I remembered source should be open and free... From my understanding, the Xandros principles almost go against the intentions of GPL v2 and the Free Software Foundation.

Now, it's Linspire and Microsoft for, yet, another partnership interoperability deal. They claim it's to help develop more "solutions" for compatibility with Windows and Linux users. Linspire also has the same view as Xandros... sell the OS bundled with support. However, Linspire does chip back money to the free projects that are bundled within their operating system. Though Linspire and Ubuntu have made a deal in regards to CNR (Click-n-Run) programs, it certainly has the Ubuntu forums bustling over the topic.

I have to say that Microsoft has fought quite a clever fight. To have Novell under their hands, they can gut a good deal of things out of Linux if they wished... To have Xandros and Linspire in their palms shows that with "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt" (FUD for the Linux folks) they can cripple small time Linux companies who want to be under Microsoft's "protection". Though this all sounds bad and definitely not in favor of Linux, consider the next few points.

1) If Microsoft wishes to crush Linux, they will need to take on IBM and Red Hat - Microsoft better be prepared to walk the line, as IBM and Red Hat hold quite a significant deal of patents regarding Linux technologies. IBM and Debian have a long standing relationship putting more in favor to Linux. I wonder how the government would see things as the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA even develop for Linux... (Remember they did create the SELinux package) Many suspect that Microsoft won't litigate as they don't want another SCO debacle, but using FUD will work better.

2) There's no such thing as interoperability, just marketshare - Microsoft played "hero" by getting the ANSI to recognize the .ODF as a standard format for modern computing... But also keep in mind that Linspire and Xandros have partnership deals with Microsoft. Because OpenOffice is open source, that means technically Microsoft could study OpenOffice just to improve Office 2007, thereby giving them reason to convince corporations that switching to Linux offers no benefit in savings as Linux "interoperability" is integrated.

3) Dell's Ubuntu experiment isn't quite done yet - A big player for Linux (now) is Dell from their Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn machines. A lot of great reviews on the machines as well as admiration for the value you get for the machine. If the results come favorable, expect companies like Lenovo (IBM) and HP to jump in on the game. It may serve to throw an interesting mix to the game. More exposure may just change how people think about their choices.

4) Even if the desktop market is lost, the mobile market has not been decided for Linux - The portable market penetration is surprisingly Linux based. The Palm Treo and Foleo are based in Linux. Motorola's phones use a fusion of Linux and Java. Nokia's Internet Tablets use Linux and are open for customization as well! With people petitioning the FCC in the United States for an open band for mobile phone testing, combine ambitious inventors with Linux mobile phone SDK's and you could have a very interesting market.