The GPLv3 is set to be published on June 29 and once that is done, any new deal will be subject to the terms which it includes.

This accounts for the desperation evident at Microsoft, with the folk at Redmond trying to find any and all Linux companies to sign up. A bid to fracture the Linux market, small though it is, and an attempt to spread fear are behind this drive.

The only company of any size which can sign on in the remaining time is TurboLinux, the distribution which enjoys the most marketshare in Asia, especially the Southeast Asian region.

Unless, of course, Mark Shuttleworth does change his mind and decide to do a deal. It's interesting to note that in the run-up to the announcement from Dell - that it would sell Ubuntu on select PCs and notebooks - Shuttleworth came up with this gem when asked when a formal announcement could be expected from Dell: "Your crystal ball is likely as clear as mine on that front. In geological terms, quite soon I imagine - no more than 2 or 3 million years at the outside."

So I wouldn't rule it out entirely. You can't lay much store by people who make statements like that.

Red Hat is out of the picture and the small French company, Mandriva, (formerly Mandrake) has also decided that it is time to make a statement about being unwilling to do a deal with Redmond.

Not that Microsoft would have bothered too much about Mandriva - this deal-making is all US-centred and only companies which have a presence or else a significant mindshare of the US market are being targeted.

Even as we build up to the final release of GPLv3, comments have started appearing here and there, claiming that the GPL will not stand up in court. This is merely another attempt at spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt and trying to tell businesses that deploying free and open source software is a risky proposition.

There is one word for this kind of uninformed and uneducated comment: rubbish.

If we do not hear about the GPL in connection with court cases, it is only because GPL violations never come to this stage. They get resolved much earlier, with people who mistakenly thought they were in compliance agreeing to make necessary changes.