Obviously SFLC has a dog in this fight :) but their quickie commentary on the MS patent pledge is here.
I haven’t had time yet to read the agreement, so I have to take Brad’s word for it, but if he’s right, and the pledge is revocable at any time, then even if the rest of it were pretty solid (Brad says it isn’t) the pledge is worth approximately nothing.
As I’ve said before (and hope to get to in yet more detail this weekend) you can only depend on a company as far as you can throw their contract with you. You cannot rely on them otherwise. If this pledge is revocable (and I have only Brad’s word for that right now), you can’t depend on it, period.
i asked Microsoft and Novell this question, Luis, and was told that everything developed under the terms of this agreement is covered in perpetuity. what is not guaranteed is what happens after the agreement terminates, if it does.
whether or not that’s what the agreements *actually* state, however, is a question i can’t answer.
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