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A pretty fair and reasonable article on the subject...surprisingly.
It really doesn't paint M$ in a very good light.
Personally I think it's ironic that a company that has made so much money from stealing IP from others is now fighting for IP rights. I really have to wonder how many of those 200+ patents are on stolen IP.
Microsoft obviously hasn't learned a thing with SCO's blunderings.
If they as much as dare take any Linux vendors/users to court they will have to produce evidence, which as we all know SCO failed to do and sunk itself in the process.
To quote the late Dr. Isaac Assimov: "That remark bears an uncanny resemblance to the proverbial crockpot full of the fecal excrement of the male bovine."
(refering to Ballmers remarks)
Last edited by bigrigdriver; 05-14-2007 at 05:29 AM..
Don't kid yourself, the only thing SCO failed to do is keep lawyer's pockets padded. That's how nVidia defeated 3Dfx, despite patents and the "law". That's how Infineon defeated Rambus, despite patents and the "law". And that's how Microsoft will defeat any other corporation that gets in their way, despite all the legal boolshiat RMS could dream up.
Linux's saving grace is that it was created by individuals from around the world for largely altruistic reasons. Its downfall will likely be RMS' "copy-left" communist-like philosophy that took rights away from those same individuals. A U.S. judge could stop the FSF's activities for the benefit of some unnatural monopoly but he/she could never stop a bunch of l33t h@x0rz in Finland.
Communists and capitalists hate free markets equally as much.
(Fortune Magazine) -- Free software is great, and corporate America loves it. It's often high-quality stuff that can be downloaded free off the Internet and then copied at will. It's versatile - it can be customized to perform almost any large-scale computing task - and it's blessedly crash-resistant.
A broad community of developers, from individuals to large companies like IBM, is constantly working to improve it and introduce new features. No wonder the business world has embraced it so enthusiastically: More than half the companies in the Fortune 500 are thought to be using the free operating system Linux in their data centers.
But now there's a shadow hanging over Linux and other free software, and it's being cast by Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500). The Redmond behemoth asserts that one reason free software is of such high quality is that it violates more than 200 of Microsoft's patents. And as a mature company facing unfavorable market trends and fearsome competitors like Google (Charts, Fortune 500), Microsoft is pulling no punches: It wants royalties. If the company gets its way, free software won't be free anymore.
The conflict pits Microsoft and its dogged CEO, Steve Ballmer, against the "free world" - people who believe software is pure knowledge. The leader of that faction is Richard Matthew Stallman, a computer visionary with the look and the intransigence of an Old Testament prophet.
full story: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...3867/index.htm
what's ur take?let M$ shows where Linux/foss infringes its patents?we can rewrite FOSS software to stop so called patent infring?
can i use GNU/Linux and FOSS software after this claim by m$?respond.
MS are running scared because Vista is a pile of ****, throwing out threats & FUD. Up yours, Ballmer!!
How true
Problem is everytime Microsoft make these claims it damages Linux (I think, imho) because those who don't know much about Linux or heard about it once or twice...might think it's true. If true...well can't IBM retaliate with patent suits of their own?
well can't IBM retaliate with patent suits of their own?
That's the big idea: and alliance of big FOSS players has been collecting patents to throw in some counter-weight. Those MS guys must really be at their wits' end if they want to push on. Maybe IBM should take out a patent on the whole concept of personal computers? Running windows declared illegal from one day to the next
This is pure, unadulterated USDA Grade A Choice FUD. If they have specifically identified which patents are being infringed, why aren't they filing suits?
Because the second they start filing suits, IBM and some of the other big-time patent holders are going to roll out the lawyers and see just how many of their patents Windows violates. That could be seriously entertaining, but probably pretty counterproductive.
The best we can hope out of this is that the big boys start to realize just how broken the patent system is, particularly as it relates to software.
Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they're being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them.
So evidently they realise that the claims will not stand up. Many patents may have prior art, thus invalidating them. For example, M$ own the patents on symlinks and tabbed browsing, both with a long history predating the patents being granted (and not by M$)
I would love to know how much Open Source code has found its way into various M$ products.
The sooner the whole idea of software patents is dumped the better.
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Microsoft says Linux violates 235 patents!
