Microsoft signs up a Novell type deal with Xandros

Microsoft signs up a Novell type deal with Xandros

Microsoft continues to target the Linux companies with their intellectual property agreements and have now signed up a deal with Linux server and desktop provider Xandros.

This deal is similar to the deal they signed up with the major Linux provider Novell which are the people behind the SuSE Linux distro.

Microsoft’s deal with Xandros includes an arrangement not to sue Xandros’ Linux customers. This is rather important considering Microsoft has been claiming that Linux and other open-source applications violate 235 of its patents. They have yet to provide any evidence on this aspect though.

The company added in a statement on the deal signed with Xandros: “These covenants will provide customers with confidence that the Xandros technologies they use and deploy in their environments are compliant with Microsoft’s intellectual property.”

This deal with Microsoft could however put Xandros in trouble with the open-source community. Linux comes under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the latest edition of this is going to have a clause which specifies that open-source distributors cannot sign patent-protection deals after March 28.