Quote Originally Posted by HTRegz
I must be the only one who sees the MS / Novell deal as a good thing... The problem is the Linux community...

Go to any Con these days... you don't see PCs running Linux... You see more and more Macs... The Linux Community, while still strongly supported, is losing some of the "big names" to OS X... The reason is that Linux is not a feasible desktop operating system in a business environment.. It needs a lot of work... It also needs access to MS patents to make it more "user friendly" or "user functional".... This agreement could do that... I believe that companies like RedHat are hurting Linux by not going into this agreement...

Sure the "kids" that are members of the Linux community (Yes, I run Linux too.. but most of the community is nothing more than kids.... certain members of this site make that more than evident) are getting pissed off and going on and on about it... In the end MS and Novell will come to terms and hammer out the details and this will benefit everyone..

Everyone got pissed when RedHat and Novell removed MP3 playback from Linux... the truth is that Linux does a) Infringe many patents c) Directly (and often illegally) bypass licensing... Those are two things that hurt it from every becoming a viable big business Desktop solution... Sure it's great in the server market... but those reasons, coupled with others, hurt it on the Desktop Front...

I'm interested in seeing how this proceeds because I'm still of the belief that it's a good thing and the right thing..

Peace,
HT
I've been a linux user for years and you know what? I've got three (count 'em) OS X boxes in this house and am getting ready to purchase a fourth (a mini) to attach full time to my home theatre system rather than keep attaching and unattaching the mac book.

OS X really is the *nix desktop that works better than all others. For years I've been complaining that Linux isn't ready for the desktop and the reclaiming of marketshare (albeit small and slow) by Apple is demonstrating that the working alternative for the average and even above average (in terms of technical competency) user is OS X and not even the big distros are ready for the desktop. Yeah, OS X is highly tweaked BSD, but that was the tweaking that was needed for most people in order for it to be practical.

Additionally, as an occassional (mostly in my distant past) NetWare engineer and still big proponent of NetWare for Print and File sharing, as well as email, I also think that the MS/Novel merger is probably going to be a pretty good thing.