Microsoft inks second deal with Linux distributor

[administrator]

Microsoft Corp. has signed a deal to share technology with a Linux distributor with Canadian roots.

It's the second deal that Microsoft has inked to allow its patent-protected software to operate alongside open-source operating systems.

Under terms of the deal, signed Monday, New York-based Xandros Inc. will develop software tools that work with Microsoft's systems and will license server code to Microsoft.

In return, Microsoft will endorse Xandros server and desktop programs, a distinction that will protect customers that run the software on their servers from any patent infringement claims.

Xandros was founded in Ottawa in August 2001 after it acquired the software development teams of Corel Corp.'s Linux business division. It's now based in New York, although its research and development facilities remain in Ottawa.

The deal comes a month after a top lawyer for Microsoft told Forbes magazine that open-source software infringes on more than 235 of the software giant's patents, a move seen by technology industry observers as a tool to leverage agreements similar to the one Microsoft signed with Novell last November.

Microsoft and Novell signed a five-year deal agreeing to not sue each other for patent claims and to also make their operating systems more compatible.

At the heart of the tension between Microsoft and open-source software is the question of intellectual property ownership.

Microsoft programs such as Windows or Office run on proprietary source software, meaning the underlying computer code is restricted and guarded by patent and other intellectual property protections.

Open-source software such as Linux, on the other hand, encourages access to its basic code. Individuals are free to add to or modify the software without fear of legal repercussions, so long as they abide by the conditions of the General Public Licence, which stipulates that the program must remain open and sharable.

While Linux has had a minimal impact in the consumer market, it is more widely used on computer servers, with the market dominated by Red Hat Inc. and Novell.

Xandros's share of the server market, on the other hand, is so small that research group IDC doesn't track it, and its desktop operating system has less than one per cent of the Linux desktop market.