Earlier this week I discussed Microsoft's shock release of GPL 2.0 licensed code into the Linux kernel. A short time ago the real reason for the code release came to light.

Originally, I had theorised that it was forced upon them by competition, and perhaps that's true, but the actual trigger for the release was that Microsoft got caught red handed using GPL licensed code in it's products and was forced to release the offending code or they would be called to task for it.

Steve Hemminger was the first person to identify the infringement and brought it quietly to the attention of Greg Kroah-Hartman who had contacts that allowed him to report the matter to someone at Microsoft, though it took two years before we got to see spin-tastic press release beginning with the phrase "in a break from the ordinary".

Microsoft had a lot of luck in how this played out. They were lucky in that Steve didn't pop the info onto his blog when he first found the infringement, that Greg was able to finally reach someone who was willing to put Microsoft into compliance, that both Steve and Greg were patient enough to wait two years for compliance and that nobody else noticed the breach during all that time. That's a lot of goodwill going Microsoft's way. It's a shame they're so keen to lawyer up if they find someone else who is allegedly at fault, rather than working through the situation in the civilised manner that Steve and Greg demonstrated.

Even if Microsoft did breach the GPL, and even if they were given ample time to become compliant, instead of being punished, the open source community has won a victory from this. Instead of fighting the GPL, Microsoft backed down, and instead of pointing the finger and saying "See, the GPL is viral, look what it's done to us!", they've instead spun the story to look like they planned this all along. They've weakened their arguments against the use of the GPL source code in the future.

This story is by no means over. If Microsoft has infringed the GPL once, then they're probably still doing it elsewhere. Hell may have frozen over, but the next time this happens, if the discoverers aren't so generous, then all hell might break loose...