http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ ... /index.htm
Microsoft takes on the free world
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Microsoft takes on the free world
by joost » Mon May 14, 2007 9:33
Microsoft claims that free software like Linux, which runs a big chunk of corporate America, violates 235 of its patents. It wants royalties from distributors and users. Users like you, maybe. Fortune's Roger Parloff reports.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ ... /index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ ... /index.htm
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joost - Sagely Hen
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by wolfden » Tue May 15, 2007 11:18
"This is an extraordinary and desperate act," said Suarez-Potts, who works at Collaborative Network Technologies Inc. in Canada. "I think it will backfire. Microsoft's using a shotgun against open source."
Lets Hope So!
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wolfden - Sharecropper
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by joost » Tue May 15, 2007 11:33
A patent owner is supposed to actively guard their patent and take action in case of violations.
He must inform the violator about it. (Ofcourse telling excactly what the violation is).
Thats how it works in US. Law if i'm informed correctly. (In Europe there wouldn't be any case, because we don't honor software-patents). The fact that Microsoft did not take any action in the first case and just are yelling at the Open Source community isn't making their case better i think.
They should start by naming the excact patents that are violited, so the Open Source community CAN react.
He must inform the violator about it. (Ofcourse telling excactly what the violation is).
Thats how it works in US. Law if i'm informed correctly. (In Europe there wouldn't be any case, because we don't honor software-patents). The fact that Microsoft did not take any action in the first case and just are yelling at the Open Source community isn't making their case better i think.
They should start by naming the excact patents that are violited, so the Open Source community CAN react.
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joost - Sagely Hen
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by davemc » Tue May 15, 2007 16:05
Ok I have researched through alot of this stuff over this last weekend (between moving to a new house) and read quite a few blogs. Here is the latest from M$
http://www.informationweek.com/news/sho ... =199501831
See Groklaw too about what PA is saying (shes the one that really helped to take down SCO with her legal insights). In short, this is ad hominum the soup de jour for M$ and its thier modus operendi. Now to translate, this is what M$ does and they do it oh so well - namely, strongarm tactics, otherwise known as semi-legal extortion. Heres a few points:
1.) M$ is losing market shares now to linux and other open source solutions with big business and possibly government as well. This is mostly due to Vista amongst other corporate mismanagement issues IMO. Bottom line is that thier bottom line is shrinking; not by much maybe, but its not moving in the correct direction to satisfy thier shareholders and thus, Ballmer (aka monkey boy) is now on the chopping block to get things back on track, again IMO, but one does not have to search very hard to look at the company's financial situation.
2) This tactic has worked very well in the past. SCO as an example. Even though SCO failed par excellance to win any judgements against thier customers about Linux patent violations (and SCO had a far better case btw than does M$). SCO is now going bankrupt, or soon will, mostly as a result of thier legal pandering. However, just the threat of legal action nowadays sends companies reeling. Most big businesses and Government agencies will not embrace a product that hovers under the dark cloud of possible litigation. That would mean spending millions to invest in a network/computer system that may end up becoming illegal or legally enmeshed in the outcome of whatever happens with the M$/Linux court battle. They simply wont take that risk, and rightly so IMO. So, all M$ really has to do is grumble and threaten and coerce, and they get what they want -- regardless of wether their threats have any real teeth or fact!
3) The Novell deal with the devil strengthened thier case! Yup, exactly as the bulk of the linux/open source guru's predicted, here it is. Novells deal with M$ in effect said "ill pay you royalties of what I make off our Linux products so long as you dont threaten to sue my customers with patent violations". Question - is Novell in violation of any patent violations by providing SLED solutions to companies? I dont think so, but thier customers, ie. big companies, are paranoid about even the slightest hint of any legal grumblings, and they want guaranteed freedom from prosecution, and so the Novell/M$ deal was done. This worked unfairly in M$'s favor of course, and was about the most moronic thing that Hovsepian could have done because it put the whole linux world at risk from M$ by giving thier claims some legitimacy, ie "well, even Novell thinks that Linux violates our patents, or why would they even do this deal for immunity with us?". Now, Hovsepian could have told thier customers, "Linux/open source products are covered under the GPL, and M$ has no claim over that or any patent violations. Novell's legal team will always remain hard at work to cover our products.", but no, they made the deal and now M$ has some additional ammunition; nonsense or not, it is just the kind of thing that those with multi-million dollar investments dont want to hear.
4.) As per the link above, M$ exec's say they will not sue Linux users. Now I ask you, does it make sense to you that they would threaten to sue open source and then say they wont sue Linux users? Again, more proof that this is just M$ acting like M$. Thier target is big business and government, NOT everyday Linux goobers like you and I. Small cookies vice big $$. In effect, what M$ wants is to profit off Linux. A kind of "you scratch my back and ill protect yours" type of arrangement. Forget the fact that M$ has no claim whatever to Linux/Unix, nor has or ever will be able to prove that in a court of law, they can threaten it, and given thier stature (60 Billion at last count) they have quite alot of muscle to get what they want (800 lawyers working for them!!.. 800?!).
What should we do? Do nothing. M$ is doing what they always do because it has worked for them in the past. They have always used shady business tactics (Big surprise!!) and seem to have no intention to stop now. I believe that if they try to take on the open source world, they will fail as have others. They are terrified of the GPLv3 and this is thier way of saying "release that and well sue, because it will screw up our shady business deal with those idiot morons over at Novell and Dell who actually think that we have any patent claims over Linux!".
http://www.informationweek.com/news/sho ... =199501831
See Groklaw too about what PA is saying (shes the one that really helped to take down SCO with her legal insights). In short, this is ad hominum the soup de jour for M$ and its thier modus operendi. Now to translate, this is what M$ does and they do it oh so well - namely, strongarm tactics, otherwise known as semi-legal extortion. Heres a few points:
1.) M$ is losing market shares now to linux and other open source solutions with big business and possibly government as well. This is mostly due to Vista amongst other corporate mismanagement issues IMO. Bottom line is that thier bottom line is shrinking; not by much maybe, but its not moving in the correct direction to satisfy thier shareholders and thus, Ballmer (aka monkey boy) is now on the chopping block to get things back on track, again IMO, but one does not have to search very hard to look at the company's financial situation.
2) This tactic has worked very well in the past. SCO as an example. Even though SCO failed par excellance to win any judgements against thier customers about Linux patent violations (and SCO had a far better case btw than does M$). SCO is now going bankrupt, or soon will, mostly as a result of thier legal pandering. However, just the threat of legal action nowadays sends companies reeling. Most big businesses and Government agencies will not embrace a product that hovers under the dark cloud of possible litigation. That would mean spending millions to invest in a network/computer system that may end up becoming illegal or legally enmeshed in the outcome of whatever happens with the M$/Linux court battle. They simply wont take that risk, and rightly so IMO. So, all M$ really has to do is grumble and threaten and coerce, and they get what they want -- regardless of wether their threats have any real teeth or fact!
3) The Novell deal with the devil strengthened thier case! Yup, exactly as the bulk of the linux/open source guru's predicted, here it is. Novells deal with M$ in effect said "ill pay you royalties of what I make off our Linux products so long as you dont threaten to sue my customers with patent violations". Question - is Novell in violation of any patent violations by providing SLED solutions to companies? I dont think so, but thier customers, ie. big companies, are paranoid about even the slightest hint of any legal grumblings, and they want guaranteed freedom from prosecution, and so the Novell/M$ deal was done. This worked unfairly in M$'s favor of course, and was about the most moronic thing that Hovsepian could have done because it put the whole linux world at risk from M$ by giving thier claims some legitimacy, ie "well, even Novell thinks that Linux violates our patents, or why would they even do this deal for immunity with us?". Now, Hovsepian could have told thier customers, "Linux/open source products are covered under the GPL, and M$ has no claim over that or any patent violations. Novell's legal team will always remain hard at work to cover our products.", but no, they made the deal and now M$ has some additional ammunition; nonsense or not, it is just the kind of thing that those with multi-million dollar investments dont want to hear.
4.) As per the link above, M$ exec's say they will not sue Linux users. Now I ask you, does it make sense to you that they would threaten to sue open source and then say they wont sue Linux users? Again, more proof that this is just M$ acting like M$. Thier target is big business and government, NOT everyday Linux goobers like you and I. Small cookies vice big $$. In effect, what M$ wants is to profit off Linux. A kind of "you scratch my back and ill protect yours" type of arrangement. Forget the fact that M$ has no claim whatever to Linux/Unix, nor has or ever will be able to prove that in a court of law, they can threaten it, and given thier stature (60 Billion at last count) they have quite alot of muscle to get what they want (800 lawyers working for them!!.. 800?!).
What should we do? Do nothing. M$ is doing what they always do because it has worked for them in the past. They have always used shady business tactics (Big surprise!!) and seem to have no intention to stop now. I believe that if they try to take on the open source world, they will fail as have others. They are terrified of the GPLv3 and this is thier way of saying "release that and well sue, because it will screw up our shady business deal with those idiot morons over at Novell and Dell who actually think that we have any patent claims over Linux!".
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davemc - Sharecropper
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by tachikoma » Fri May 18, 2007 9:36
The day I have to pay Microsoft royalties to use sabayon or any other form of linux is the day I take my computer and throw it off a bridge. It's much more likely that there's bits of linux code in Vista than that there's bits of windows in the linux kernel. How will Microsoft ever prove their claim, when their code is secret? I just means that Microsoft finally realizes what a threat linux is to them.
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by Eden » Fri May 18, 2007 19:31
As long at the guys running Sabayon don't break to MS's threats (which must be illegal) (and i doubt they would go after Sabayon anyway, not enough money in it) they will threaten someone else. As long as you can say no they wont do anything.
What there trying to do quite simply is scare businesses using GNU/Linux into paying them money because they think they will be sued otherwise, its of course not true, MS would never take any action but if they can get just a few company's to pay up it will be worth it and it will somehow validate there clam and they will go after more company's and users.
At least thats my take, and its probably what id be thinking if I was them.
What there trying to do quite simply is scare businesses using GNU/Linux into paying them money because they think they will be sued otherwise, its of course not true, MS would never take any action but if they can get just a few company's to pay up it will be worth it and it will somehow validate there clam and they will go after more company's and users.
At least thats my take, and its probably what id be thinking if I was them.
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