Miguel does a backflip on patent licensing deal

By Sam Varghese
Saturday, 08 March 2008 03:45

Opinion and Analysis

I haven't laughed as loud and as long as I did this morning when I read that Miguel de Icaza has now started criticising the patent licensing deal which his employer Novell signed with Microsoft in November 2006.
The Pope has turned Anglican. John McCain has become a Democrat. Fidel Castro has sworn off Communism.

Whenever de Icaza does something, there is always a good reason. But like all people who flip through 180 degrees, de Icaza generally does not reveal such reasons.

When can we expect the "clarification" Miguel? When will you write a blog entry defending what you said or claiming you never said it? Have you had a religious experience?

De Icaza's denunciation came, according to the IDG news service, at a conference in Las Vegas, where he made statements to this effect while trying to defend himself against the fact there is no patent protection for third parties who use the products which he has developed - Mono and Moonlight.

But wasn't it de Icaza who said this : "Although I did not take part of the actual negotiations, and was only told about this deal less than a week before the announcement, I had been calling for a long time for a collaboration between Microsoft and Open Source and Microsoft and Novell."

Or was it a different person bearing the same name? Some man who had stolen de Icaza's ID? Should we call in the FBI?