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.

Read about it at Slashdot.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/14/0018242

Is this for real?

My apologies. I thought I'd posted this on the General board.

LOL!

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)

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.

lets just call this latest round of FUD from microsoft SCO-2.0

MS are running scared because Vista is a pile of ****, throwing out threats & FUD. Up yours, Ballmer!!

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.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=553640

They are feeling paranoid.


Good. (my work here is done )

How can Linux be infringing their patents? Linux software hasn't turned to crap yet...

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?

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.

I like the reason for not stating what they are:

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.