anon
23.07.09, 18:47
The pigs are still in the air. Microsoft really did release not one, but two, pieces of code under the formerly Microsoft-hated GNU General Public License (GPL) this week. And it still seems the Linux drivers it put under the GPL on July 20 are on their way to becoming incorporated into the next version of the Linux kernel.
But as my ZDNet blogging colleague Paula Rooney and TechFlash's Todd Bishop both noted yesterday, one of the key reasons Microsoft agreed to do this was left out of the original tale told by the Softies.
Microsoft originally was licensing the Linux drivers, also known as the Linux Integration Components (LIC), in a way that was in violation of the GPL. It was offering them under a combination of the GPL and a closed source license.
Pigs are flying low: Why Microsoft open-sourced its Linux drivers | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3433)
So this was the catch :smile:
But as my ZDNet blogging colleague Paula Rooney and TechFlash's Todd Bishop both noted yesterday, one of the key reasons Microsoft agreed to do this was left out of the original tale told by the Softies.
Microsoft originally was licensing the Linux drivers, also known as the Linux Integration Components (LIC), in a way that was in violation of the GPL. It was offering them under a combination of the GPL and a closed source license.
Pigs are flying low: Why Microsoft open-sourced its Linux drivers | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3433)
So this was the catch :smile: