Novell's hackles-raising deal with Microsoft was grandfathered so the GPL3's patent restrictions don't apply to it, but the same can't be said for Xandros, Linspire or anyone else that does a patent-protection deal with Microsoft.

Sun is expected to rush to embrace GPL3 in the name of Solaris, especially if Linux kernel chief Linus Torvalds continues to have reservations about it. If Torvalds doesn't capitulate, Sun can look more open source than open source.

The fact that under the new rules GPL3 and GPL2 code can't be commingled in the same program does seem to present a problem but you can have GPLv3-covered and GPLv2-covered programs side-by-side in an operating system.

There's supposed to be live footage of the launch event at www.fsf.org.

Meanwhile, Palamida says it's updated its IP detection and reporting solution, IP Amplifier, with GPLv3 functionality and created an online GPLv3 repository that will basically clock the transition. There are supposed to be daily updates.

See http://gpl3.palamida.com.