From: Rich Gauszka 

slowly they succumb

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070604/tc_pcworld/132525;_ylt=Aki8GdXBbAV7UID
BEpooyS1kM3wV

Xandros Inc., which offers desktop and server versions of Linux, has agreed
to license Microsoft intellectual property (IP), said Bob Muglia, senior
vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. He dropped
the news in the middle of a keynote Monday at the company's TechEd 2007
conference in Orlando.

Muglia shed little light on specific details of the agreement, saying only
that it follows the same model as the Linux and Windows interoperability
and licensing deal Microsoft struck with Novell last year.

"Xandros has taken a license to our intellectual property," he
said. "They've taken the position of helping customers to ensure that
when they use open-source software, that the IP the industry has created is
a part of that."

A news release the companies made available Monday had more details,
confirming that the deal includes "covenants" to protect
customers using Xandros software from any potential patent-infringement
claims from Microsoft.

Microsoft said recently it would aggressively seek royalties for patents it
says it holds in open-source technologies such as Linux. The company
acknowledged that instead of going to court it would rather sign back-room
patent and cross-licensing deals with open-source distributors.

Muglia acknowledged that in the past year Microsoft has stepped up efforts
to ensure its products are interoperable with competitive offerings, and
working with the open-source community has been a big part of that.

"Over the last year, you've seen Microsoft take a number of steps
that... demonstrate a change of approach for us," he said.
"You've seen partnerships you might not have expected Microsoft to be
a part of." Muglia mentioned partnerships with Xensource, Novell and
JBoss as examples of the company's new attitude.

In addition to the licensing component, the five-year deal between Xandros
and Microsoft also will include collaboration between the companies to make
their Microsoft System Center and Xandros Systems Management products more
interoperable. Xandros also will join the efforts to standardize and use
Web Services (WS)-Management protocols, which Microsoft supports.

As part of the deal, Xandros will license Microsoft server communications
protocols so Xandros Server will work better with Windows Server in IT
systems. The company also will join the effort to build translators between
rival document formats Open Document Format, an international standard
favored by open-source companies, and Open XML, Microsoft's default format
in Office 2007.

Finally, Microsoft will endorse Xandros desktop and server Linux OSes as
the "preferred" distribution for its customers, and company
engineers will be trained to support the software to help channel partners
offer both Microsoft and Xandros software.

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