MS offering to buy Yahoo ???

[In_The_Ville]

I don't think there is much to say:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc.'s first-quarter performance was a little like Goldilocks' favorite soup - not too hot and not too cold, and that has set the table for a bitter battle over Microsoft Corp.'s bid to take over the Internet pioneer.

By delivering earnings and revenue Tuesday that surpassed analysts' estimates, Yahoo added credence to its board's contention that the Sunnyvale-based company is poised for a dramatic turnaround that justifies a higher sales price than Microsoft's initial bid of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share.

But neither the first-quarter results nor Yahoo's outlook for the rest of the year may be compelling enough to cause Microsoft to sweeten its offer.

"This isn't going to make Microsoft come and out offer $35," predicted Canaccord Adams analyst Colin Gillis.

That leaves the rivals at an impasse, just as they have been since Microsoft stunned Yahoo with its unsolicited takeover attempt nearly three months ago.

[raj]

Originally Posted by gmturner

The "logos" restriction applies only to "any copy/modification of the software." Notably absent is any limitation on what can be done with the (html/css/etc) output of the software.

I fail to see how this license could stop "You" from creating an unbadgifying robot:

[web client] <====> [unbadgifier] <====> [Zimbra]

For example, the unbadgifier could consist of just apache+mod_proxy+mod_filter and "code" to replace text in /zimbra/css/images or wherever the stupid badges are produced.

So long as the debadgifier and Zimbra are completely separate software programs, I fail to see how the YPL can stop "You" from stripping out the badges on "Your" own time (or that of Your robot slaves).

Does this fall into any API (input/output from zimbra) integration restriction or some thing..if NOT then we should explore this more and start a thread in DEV fourms how to achive this.

Raj

[Russianspi]

If we're going to make an "unbadgifying robot", let's get a little more creative. Why not make a "rebadgifying robot"? We could use it to rebadge with a fork's name (always, of course, giving people the option to "insert your own logo here").

[dwmtractor]

At the risk of seeming like a corporate plant (which I'm not) I have to advise the "de-badgifying" crowd to tread lightly. I am not a lawyer either, but something tells me that a software whose explicit aim runs counter to the explicit aim of the attribution in the license, is likely to step in something deep and smelly. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. . .well, you know!

[gmturner]

Originally Posted by dwmtractor

At the risk of seeming like a corporate plant (which I'm not) I have to advise the "de-badgifying" crowd to tread lightly. I am not a lawyer either, but something tells me that a software whose explicit aim runs counter to the explicit aim of the attribution in the license, is likely to step in something deep and smelly. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. . .well, you know!

Agreed. Such a project amounts to a kind of war-of-legal-technicalities which could only be decisively won by means of an unsuccessful legal challenge to the fork, a process few outside the legal profession would relish.

Disclaimer: Listening to me could get you into all kinds of trouble, so don't do it. Regardless, if you choose to listen to me against my advice, don't sue me!

It is presumably the case that a real lawyer looked at the YPL at some point and said "yeah, this works". For what purpose it was designed to work is less clear. A cynical guess would be: to discourage forking. The simultaneously vague and hopelessly inclusive language of the YPL ("retain and reproduce, any and all ... attribution notices ... in the same form ...") seems to create a fog of legal uncertainty around the project that would serve this end quite cleverly.

Personally, I'm less of a cynic. My guess would be that the YPL is an attempt to compromise between FOSS and shrink-wrap/proprietary intellectual-property models, both of which may have strong advocates within Yahoo. If that's right, the license, IMHO, is just the opposite of clever. Not only because its language is sloppy and unclear, but because badgeware is clearly an inherently stupid idea which needlessly obstructs both FOSS and (arguably) shrink-wrap business models without providing any meaningfully compensating benefits to either.

Remember this mess? I have always assumed that, given enough time to lie in the legal bed Yahoo has made for itself, Yahoo will rethink the merits of the badgeware restriction and remove it, possibly at some considerable cost. Likewise for all the badgeware projects that have been cropping up lately. Again, the only beneficiaries will probably be the lawyers who will eventually get to sort this mess out.

[bjquinn]

The following article -

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/14407/CONFIRMED-Microsoft-Yahoo-in-Negotiations-Price-Up-'Several-Dollars'?tickers=msft,yhoo

- indicates that all our worst fears may soon come true. Does anyone know what the most recent stance from Yahoo/Zimbra is on the Microsoft purchase? Will we get a license change? Attribution exception? Fork? Screwed?

-BJ

[fselendic]

Originally Posted by bjquinn

The following article -

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/14407/CONFIRMED-Microsoft-Yahoo-in-Negotiations-Price-Up-'Several-Dollars'?tickers=msft,yhoo

- indicates that all our worst fears may soon come true. Does anyone know what the most recent stance from Yahoo/Zimbra is on the Microsoft purchase? Will we get a license change? Attribution exception? Fork? Screwed?

-BJ

Screwed. (why do I have to type 10 characters, when one word sums it up nicely? )

[In_The_Ville]

Originally Posted by bjquinn

The following article -

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/14407/CONFIRMED-Microsoft-Yahoo-in-Negotiations-Price-Up-'Several-Dollars'?tickers=msft,yhoo

- indicates that all our worst fears may soon come true. Does anyone know what the most recent stance from Yahoo/Zimbra is on the Microsoft purchase? Will we get a license change? Attribution exception? Fork? Screwed?

-BJ

Henry Blodgett has no credibility whatsoever.

Edit: OK, Im seeing it other places also.

[stock99]

hmm this look bad... now i am start to worry

[brwatters]

At some point sooner rather than later "SCREWED"