Memo to Xandros CEO: you're better off selling potatoes

Sam Varghese
Monday, 11 June 2007 05:55

Opinion and Analysis

 I'm sure that a great many people never knew this either - they've all found out because Xandros decided to sign a patent cross-licensing deal with Microsoft. And as a result of that Typaldos was interviewed by CMP Media and the resulting yarn was posted on many sites.

It's amusing to note that a man becomes a recognisable public figure only after he's signed a deal that could well mean the demise of his company. Strange indeed are the ways of mega-corporations.

So what did the good Andreas have to say? I picked up some gems from this link. Typaldos's words are italicised; I've used the quotes as they were in the source.

“We did not discuss patents [with Microsoft] and we don’t think Linux violates any patents and we were not asked about it. It is a non-issue for us.”

Incredibly, a patent cross-licensing deal was signed without once discussing patents. Now how could anyone imagine that people would talk about patents when they were signing such a deal? Silly me!

No, it is much more likely that they discussed the price of oranges in California. Or perhaps the oil industry in Venezuela. Or even the industrial relations laws in Australia. But patents? Not a ruddy chance in hell that the word even figured in those talks.

“[Our deal] is a forward looking thing, we are licensing certain technologies.”

Weasel words at best, but even here there is a screw-up. Simply because Typaldos has done something which is going to cause his company to go backwards. Xandros was never a big player but now it's going to become like Alice in Wonderland after she ate that cake.