Get Up 8

Friday Five

This weekend's todo list:

1. Yardwork: rake, winterize beds (Barbara's actually done most of this already), final mow.
2. Move stuff out of kitchen so the sink can be worked on next Tuesday.
3. Study for the Planning Commission meeting.
4. Try to figure out the ICU problem and get musashi working as the server.
5. Work on novel.

In other news, Microsoft and Novell have struck an agreement regarding the interoperability of Windows and SUSE Linux—or, at least, that's what it looks like on the surface. Another interpretation is that Novell is paying Microsoft protection money. As it was put in BetaNews:

So why was Microsoft so receptive when Novell approached it about such a deal in April of this year, and when the two companies sat down to discuss options in May? The answer may lie in a point quietly announced at the end of the press conference: Novell will make ongoing royalty payments to Microsoft for all open source products it ships.

[Emphasis in the original.] In other words, Novell will pay Microsoft, and Microsoft promises not to sue Novell's customers.

Slashdotters are scratching their collective heads over it, but I'm pretty sure this agreement is about shareholdings and lawyers much more than it is about technology and users, more's the pity.

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 09:44

• friday five
• todo
• linux