Microsoft wants to OWN Linux!

[NorthernSpy]

It seems Microsoft has been trying to extort "royalties" from commercial users of Linux on the grounds that Linux supposedly violates 200-something Microsoft patents. (They refuse to say which ones. If they would be specifc, we could examine the patents and challenge them. Apparently, they don't want that.) It's all over the news today.

I think they want to take over Linux and make it part of their empire. I think that they think that this will be like taking candy from a baby. (They're wrong about that.)


Groklaw has a heartening take on all this.


Maybe we should just start an invalidation drive against Microsoft's most lucrative patents, since they refuse to say which ones they're squawking about now.

[charlie]

1. I don't think they'll think it'll be easy

I don't even think they're expecting to eradicate Linux with this patents noise. I expect they're hoping to create longterm FUD among current and prospective enterprise users (and maybe keep major hardware vendors from getting too enthusiastic about their Linux offerings).

[Sanctified]

2. I think their aim is to scare the big Linux providers and their customers.

The fact that Microsoft can start dropping lawsuits on companies who use open source is pretty shitty and even if they can't prove that Open Source is infringing on any patents it will still make a business leery of going open source for fear of being sued. I was pretty pissed when Novell signed a deal with the devil since I use OpenSuse SLED and SLES exclusively but on the other hand I can understand where Novell is coming from by signing the deal they protect themselves and all of their customers from being sued.

[JPettus]

5. Well, and Novell has another plan as well

They are concentrating on interoperability with Microsoft to try to make their product more attractive to those companies that are looking to make their server rooms mixed environment. They can offer support to get their product to play nice with Windows servers and they get support from Microsoft to help them in that endeavor.

They also purchased the Evolution email client, which is as close to a Linux alternative you can get to Outlook and are developing it more to work with their desktop and Exchange servers.

They made their deal with the devil since Linux/Windows mixed environments are becoming a fact of life.

[SKKY]

3. Is it lost on anyone but me that Microsoft makes this claim...

...at about the same time Dell begins offering computers with Ubuntu preloaded? Seems to me Microsoft might be trying to
quill a trend before it starts.

[JPettus]

4. Linux is getting to the point where it can compete

While M$ still has a stranglehold in the US, Linux is taking off across Europe and Asia. M$ is already having a problem dealing with the piracy of their OS in Asian companies and the fact that Linux is free and being used more and more widely poses a long term problem for them. As the OS continues to develop it is becoming as easy for the non-technical user to install and use as Windows and much less costly than Apple. The new release of Ubuntu, "Gutsy Gibbon" is allegedly even easier to install and use than any of it's predecessors and compares very well with XP and Vista in terms of easy to use. (I say allegedly because I've downloaded it but won't install it until after the first)

M$ CEO Ballmer keeps making noises about intellectual property, but since Windows intellectual property was actually "borrowed" originally from Unix and then from Apple, they are hardly in a position to point fingers, and when challenged Ballmer refuses to be specific about what intellectual property they think their lawyers could prove a case from in Linux.

SCO HAD to attack Linux, as they were going down like the Titanic otherwise. It was a last ditch effort to get some cash to keep going.

M$ doesn't have that excuse but it may be part of a long term plan to slow down the rise of the Linux desktop.

[Occulus]

6. And as a side note

Just about the only thing that keeps people like myself- gamers- from switching to linux completely is the fact that game developers don't usually code for both DirectX and OpenGL.

What we need is for some well-heeled linux geek to drop several million on development of what could be called DirectX.org (or call it DirectY to be cute or DirectL to be a brand) to work with games and other software written for DirectX. That, or set up a foundation to fund developers' efforts for several years to code for both DX and OpenGL.

I know, I know. Won't happen.

It's a dream....

[Uncle Sinister]

7. And yet...here is Linus Torvalds giving kudos to Microsoft for "sharing"...

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9878027-39.html?tag=newsmap

I honestly don't know what to make of this development. It make my head hurt.