LXer: Microsoft aims patent guns at Red Hat

LXer · 10-09-2007, 11:40 AM

Published at LXer:

"People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us," Ballmer said last week at a company event in London discussing online services in the UK.

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Hangdog42 · 10-09-2007, 11:49 AM

I'm sure everyone will be perfectly happy to discuss this with Microsoft just as soon as they specify exactly what intellectual property they are talking about. However, as long as they keep FUDding about this, the proper response is to suggest Ballmer do something extremely biological and possibly impossible.

Oh, and lets send a big note of thanks to Novell for helping to substantiate Microsoft's crapola.

craigevil · 10-09-2007, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hangdog42

I'm sure everyone will be perfectly happy to discuss this with Microsoft just as soon as they specify exactly what intellectual property they are talking about. However, as long as they keep FUDding about this, the proper response is to suggest Ballmer do something extremely biological and possibly impossible.

Oh, and lets send a big note of thanks to Novell for helping to substantiate Microsoft's crapola.

Novell, Xandros, Linspire!!!

M$ and Balmer can go frak themselves.

Quote:

Microsoft has alleged that Linux and open source applications infringe on its intellectual property, violating as many as 235 Microsoft patents. In addition to Novell, Linspire and now Xandros, Microsoft has also successfully sold its IP protection covenant to Samsung Electronics, LG and Xerox.

it is amazing how stupid some companies can be.

Quote:

Through the agreement, Microsoft will make available patent covenants for Xandros customers. These covenants will provide customers confidence that the Xandros technologies they use and deploy in their environments are compliant with Microsoft’s intellectual property. By putting a framework in place to share intellectual property Xandros and Microsoft can speed the development of interoperable solutions.

Screw them all, just one more reason to use a 'free" distro like Slackware, Gentoo, or Debian.

easuter · 10-10-2007, 02:03 AM

Eh... Balmer just never learns. I bet lots of MS employees roll their eyes in embarrassment whenever he makes a fool of himself like this.

Microsoft will sink if it starts a patent war. IBM and Sun have a much larger patent portfolio (oh and don't forget the OIN's warchest). And Windows will be a nice soft stop to strike back at.