Ubuntu apes Novell in IP scare campaign

Sam Varghese
Friday, 11 June 2010 16:25

Opinion and Analysis

In its hurry to embark on ventures that would result in making its GNU/Linux distribution a profitable one, it looks like Canonical, the makers of the popular Ubuntu GNU/Linux, has gone a step too far.

Canonical has launched an initiative called Ubuntu Advantage which attempts to sell its product based on many factors, one of them unfortunately being the hoary old chestnut about the possibility of Linux having IP problems.

The wording says it all: "Ubuntu Advantage gives you peace of mind with comprehensive legal cover. Ubuntu Assurance helps customers to deploy Ubuntu without complicated legal concerns. We take care of intellectual property (IP) infringement legal claims brought against customers in their use of Ubuntu."

Shade of Steve Ballmer and his repeated claims about Linux violating 235 patents - none of which, funnily, the fiery Microsoft chief executive could bring himself to name.

This tactic by Ubuntu is despicable and is the same as that indulged in by Novell which, after it sold out and signed a patent licensing pact with Microsoft in November 2006, has sought to distinguish its SUSE Linux product by the fact that it has no IP concerns.

Novell also pushes its Microsoft software clones, Mono and Moonlight, by claiming the same thing.

By trying to use scare tactics, Canonical shows scant respect for the rest of the free software and open source community and concern only for its own agenda. Time to remind people there that were it not for a certain free top-quality GNU/Linux distribution named Debian, there would be no Ubuntu.