One, that Microsoft has been emboldened by the fact that the last call draft of GPLv3 does not penalise Novell. A bit of compromise on Richard Stallman's part has been interpreted as weakness.

Two, Redmond wants a test case to see whether Stallman's statement - that GPLv3 will ensure that any and all patent deals will backfire against Microsoft - will be tested sooner rather than later.

And three, that Redmond still believes that the old policy of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) will continue to keep the cash registers at Redmond ringing.

Somehow, the fact that there are limits to what money can do have not sunk in yet - even though the situation in Iraq is still front and centre in the US. Next time there is a vacancy on the Microsoft board, let me recommend the inclusion of one Donald Rumsfeld.

Some have interpreted the signing of this deal to mean that Microsoft is pretty sure that it can evade the strictures of GPLv3. Take note that Microsoft has not signed up to distribute Xandros - which means that it does not want to be considered a Linux distributor in this case, something which makes any patents which it allegedly claims are being illegally used by Linux available to all and sundry.

In the case of Novell, Microsoft is a distributor, no matter which definition one employs.

As far as Xandros goes, it is a sign of desperation and means that the company is not going to be around selling GNU/Linux too long. Take the money and run, appears to be the new company motto.

Xandros is obviously hoping that the deal will raise it from being a low-profile Linux distributor to one which is known - if only for selling out to Microsoft. Better to have your five minutes of fame, rather than, as the poet Alexander Pope wrote "steal from the world, and not a stone tell where I lie." Paris Hilton took that route to fame as well. We'll all remember Xandros now.

The Xandros agreement is dated June 4 (US time). Hence it will not be covered by the exclusion clause of the GLPv3's last call draft. The draft specified a cut-off date of March 28. Xandros will be able to continue distributing Linux until the GPLv3 comes into force. After that, there will be legal problems.

And the nature of the problems which arise will decide whether other small companies line up to take their 30 pieces of silver from Redmond.

In one way, it is a pity because Xandros's Linux offerings are good. But like many other companies, it is in the wrong business. I was mistaken when I recommended the distribution recently - nobody can switch to a commercial distribution without some certainty that the company selling it is going to be around for at least some time. Time to throw out those trial versions of Xandros server which I was planning to test over the next month.

Slice these deals any way you like, they are a sellout.

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