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When .NET went Shared Source Miguel de Icaza talked about what it all meant. Looking at the Microsoft Reference License you find some very brow-raising phrases discussing software patents.

It seems like Novell’s role in GNOME is not healthy to GNOME’s existence (let alone the success of ODF), to say the very least. Only yesterday, we delved deeper into the connections between Microsoft and Novell, which desperately needs Microsoft’s money. It is worth stressing that Novell should be approached very cautiously by the Free software world.

There are many dots to connect and many past discussions to combine, so this post will contain many pointers and hints, essentially leaving interpretation to the reader. Whatever you make of this, it seems safe to conclude that we find patterns here.

There’s disagreement about whether Gobuntu lives up to its goal as the “strictest possible interpretation of the Free Software Foundation's ‘Four Freedoms.’”

In this Q & A, PJ explains how Groklaw operates, what its purposes include, and where it is likely to head in the future.

As GNU/Linux becomes more popular, the motives behind its inceptions are often forgotten. Linux is a free operating system, but its broadening userbase perceives this freedom as pertaining to cost, not rights and liberty.

The press if going ga-ga after Justin Steinman’s claim that Novell is doing well despite and because of the deal with Microsoft. But Justin is a PR agent, and the reporters do not bother to perform a quick and independent sanity check.

Remember that the whole thing is a just publicity stunt. It is a shame that OSI board members such as Matt Asay are too blind to see this, let alone react responsibly.

Apparently, some people take pride in attacking Free software. With statements such as “we would like to strike similar patent deals with all the Linux vendors, but we had to start somewhere” or even “the Free Software movement is dead. Linux doesn’t exist in 2007. Even Linus has got a job today,” Bill Hilf is no popular figure these days.

We continue to explore the Linspire/Microsoft affairs and we identify some discomforting facts. As we stated before, personal benefits were possibly (even probably) part of all those recent deals.

An impulsive and immediate migration to Linux can sometimes lead to disappointment. Ambitious businesses are sometimes led to believe that their data can merely be be dumped from one platform onto another, but the reality is a little more complex than this.

Determining usage and growth of Free software has always been a challenge. For over a decade, arguments have been held – sometimes flamewars – whose central point was the usage level of software that is freely distributed. At the center of this debate, one typically finds the GNU/Linux operating system. Endless attempts have been made to count Linux users, but in the end this might always remain an impossibility.

We would like to ask our readers for input and collect some of our readers’ questions. Our intent is to focus on exclusionary deals and the integrity of Free software although any ‘lighter’ questions would be very suitable as well.

Secrecy is unacceptable in an open development model and community, and Novell ’s (in)actions threaten to stall or even destroy the advance of Free Software. It is of vital importance to the community - and especially any projects accepting Novell code and patches - for Novell to publicly and unequivocally state the details of their agreement...

Samsung has just made a Novell-type deal with Microsoft. It would be unsurprising if Samsung came under pressure by Microsoft. There is little or no reason to suspect that Samsung approached Microsoft and sought coverage for its use of Linux.

Shane and I contacted Jeremy Allison, who has answered many of the questions which we thought our readers would like to see answered.