MS offering to buy Yahoo ???

[meltingrobot]

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/p...statement.mspx

[Lynner]

This doesnt have to do with Microsoft trying to Buy Yahoo but I did find this interesting

Microsoft sets pricing, fee sharing for services | Technology | Reuters

[bjquinn]

I believe that license change is undeniably good news! At the absolute minimum it shows that Yahoo is at least attempting to be considerate of the open source community.

Anyone care to help with the interpretation a bit? Does this change solve all our concerns or am I missing the mark altogether and it's completely unrelated?

It seems to me that the two real issues are this :

1. Upon acquisition, whether Yahoo (read: Microsoft) could not prevent you from using the software you were already using, or possibly preventing future use of software you weren't using yet but that was previously released before the takeover.

2. Whether some other community could take over development if the Zimbra team were disbanded. (Or maybe the Zimbra team gets back together after the geniuses at MSFT let them go...)

Seems to me #1 would probably be taken care of by some nice anti-trust proceedings even if the license doesn't fully take care of it, but #2.... anyone?

[dwmtractor]

Originally Posted by bjquinn

I believe that license change is undeniably good news! At the absolute minimum it shows that Yahoo is at least attempting to be considerate of the open source community.

Anyone care to help with the interpretation a bit? Does this change solve all our concerns or am I missing the mark altogether and it's completely unrelated?

Well, given my usual double-disclaimer that I am neither a lawyer nor a Zimbra employee, I think it does one thing well: There has been a fear that if Microsoft (or somebody else) were to acquire Zimbra, they could unilaterally determine that all Zimbra users were in breach of the license "in their sole discretion," and just decree we all had to stop using the software. Without debating whether that fear was well-founded, the license change now says simply "if you breach the agreement," which leaves the definition of "breach" to lawyers and courts--which is better than the definition being Microsoft or Yahoo or anybody else deciding you're in breach because they don't like you any more. SO, I believe the license change increases the probability that everyone can continue to use existing software after a takeover regardless of the next steps of the acquiring entity.

I DON'T think that it makes the prospect of a post-acquisition software fork any easier, because the attribution requirements are unchanged.

[bjquinn]

So, we won't necessarily have to turn out the lights on the day of the MSFT takeover, but given the following news :

DailyTech - Deal Puts Icahn in Control of Over a Quarter of Yahoo's Board

...the future of Zimbra is still not too bright.

I wish a Zimbra official would come out and discuss where we really stand, or let us know that they're working on it, etc.

[Bill Brock]

I doubt there is much they can say that we haven't already read in the news. No one knows for sure where it will end. But everybody's intentions are well documented.

What scares me more than a complete buyout by MS is if they sell only bits and pieces like Icahn and MS have been talking.

In any event, my ZCS installations will continue to run no matter what the outcome is. In addition, I don't believe MS would kill Zimbra even if they were to buy Yahoo. Others on the forum disagree but with MS wanting to go with hosted services, they would benefit more from using Zimbra than killing it.

[bjquinn]

Well, of course, I don't expect them to tell us where we stand with regards to the MSFT buyout, just where we stand with respect to attempting to fix the Zimbra license to allow forking. While Yahoo is still in control, I don't see why this wouldn't be possible.

Also, you're right, existing installations might continue to run, but what about future installations? Maybe Zimbra continues to exist, but what about the FOSS version?

[dljordaneku]

For what it's worth.

Ballmer: Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Is Dead

dj

[p24t]

Originally Posted by dljordaneku

For what it's worth.

Ballmer: Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Is Dead

dj

FTA: "Yahoo for us was always a tactic, not a strategy," Ballmer said...

Good thing Yahoo was smart enough not to take the deal.

[bjquinn]

Originally Posted by dljordaneku

For what it's worth.

Ballmer: Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Is Dead

dj

... again.

At any rate, I just hope this thing dies. One way or another, even if we get lucky enough to avoid the worst case scenario (i.e. a MSFT buyout) THIS time around, I hope that the Yahoo execs learn their lesson and fix the license. It's not like the way it is now is doing them any good.