More Linux Firms Standing Up To Microsoft

After getting a number of companies to sign its interoperability/patent licensing deals, Microsoft is finding that many Linux distributors aren't interested in these pacts. Red Hat, Canonical (the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux) and now Mandriva have all stated that they want no part of these deals, and see no reason to sign them. As Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon correctly put it, the route to interoperability is not through deals, but through open standards. Of course, these deals were never really about interoperability, but about Microsoft looking to demonstrate that some Linux firms agreed with it about the need to license patents. Of course, the firms that have joined the Microsoft camp are seeing benefits, as Microsoft is sending business their way, particularly in the case of Novell. That being said, Novell has burned a lot of bridges in the open source community, while these holdout firms are likely to benefit from added love among Linux fans.