A Novell executive has apologized to the Free Software Foundation for erroneously claiming that his company was "a significant financial contributor" to the organization.
The claim by Justin Steinman, Novell's director of marketing for Linux and open source, was challenged by Peter Brown, executive director of the FSF.
Steinman copped a plea in a blog note to Brown:
"Further research inside Novell confirms that Peter Brown is correct and I spoke in error. I want to make it clear that I had no intention of making false claims or providing misinformation to the market," he wrote. "I want to apologize to the Free Software Foundation and to the open source community for making this misrepresentation. I should have double-checked the accuracy of my information before speaking, and for that, I offer no excuse."
Novell continues to make "friends" within a community that is critical to its future survival.
(Update: Many more details, comments at Groklaw.)
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