Let not Novell get off the hook by stirring trouble here. There are countless private conferences and symposiums going around nearby which promote themes of non-free and patents. No free software activist goes there to register protest.

Free Software conferences serve many purposes and we can accept that one such method in revealing or knowing about non-free intrusions could be through some kind of non-violent protest - stickers, posters and T-shirts are hallmarks of FS protests.

Novell has succeeded in driving the wedge, inflicting a kind of perfect damage to a contributors' community and getting away scot-free.