Free Software Foundation To Weigh In On Novell Soon

It looks like the Free Software Foundation might finally be in a position to put the smackdown on Novell in the next week. From Reuters:

An executive with a non-profit group that controls rights to much of the code behind Linux software said on Wednesday his foundation has completed deliberations over whether to punish Novell Inc. for signing a patent deal with Microsoft Corp. Executive Peter Brown declined to say whether the group had decided to go ahead with threats to punish Novell by restricting its right to distribute future versions of the foundation's group of GNU programs, which work with the Linux kernel that forms the heart of Linux operating system.

What is it they say about dancing with the devil? Something about being wary of his ridiculous claims of patent infringement, right? With Microsoft's increasingly unpopular standing with the Linux community it'll be interesting to see if the FSF actually puts Novell on the line. Hopefully the revised version of the GPL that's due to take effect in July will effectively put a muzzle on Microsoft's patent spat and ultimately bring this thing to a close. I'll keep you updated as this develops!