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Ballmer Threatens Linux Patent Lawsuits
gillbates writes "Today Microsoft warned several Asian countries that using Linux could subject them to lawsuits, claiming that Linux violates '228 patents'. Apparently, Steve Ballmer believes he can enforce U.S. law in Asia." Ballmer is presumably speaking about this story. So, companies which sell insurance against lawsuits and companies which make competing products both warn of the dangers of using Linux. Maybe someone should point out that Microsoft is battling dozens of patent-infringement lawsuits itself, and any user of Microsoft software (including governments) could also be sued?
Keep in mind that China is a Communist country and any concept of intellectual property is relatively novel.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
By indemnified, I believe they mean that their customers will not be sued by other companies for using MS products. MS would be sued, and be required to pay up or make the required changes.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no MS fanboy, but lets be clear about it. I don't think any company can safely claim to be 100% in the clear when it comes to patents. Not in the world we live in...
Okay fine! If you're not our customer, prepare to be sued for it!
While I generally take legal threats and action fairly seriously, my knee-jerk reaction is that Microsoft will be laughed out of the arena on this one. This would be a persuit that would turn the public against them. I can see the IBM propaganda commercials on TV now. They'd be depicting a hobbyist writing making something in their garage or basement followed quickly by a SWAT team with guns pointed at his head.
While it's true that business has taken a natural interest in Linux. It's free, it's reliable, it's flexible, it's customizable and it's everywhere and simply growing and growing. It can't be stopped. Anything that Microsoft does againt the users of Linux will certainly make them look even more evil in the public's eye than ever before.
Public opinion has turned against the RIAA and MPAA because they're now known for suing children and little old ladies. Clear Channel has bad enough vibe out there that they are operating under the names of the companies they bought out just to hide their identity since many people no longer want to go to Clear Channel events. Most people accept Microsoft as part of their computer like a keyboard, mouse or monitor. But when people and small businesses start getting sued and the public gets wind of it, not only will it serve as free advertisement for the new "Underdog" but it'll cause a lot of negative opinion against Microsoft. Apple will start collecting more fans as their next home PC will be a happy-faced G5 running something that's not Microsoft.
Go ahead Microsoft... make my day.
One way to look at it is that lawsuits are an expensive way to make noise. Ballmer has to make noise or else folks will resume paying attention to their work and finding that MS is an obstacle. Or worse, that folks will start checking out other options like OpenOffice.org or OS X or one of the Linux distros. Or, even worse, they'll start to realise that MS stock is a worse investment than Enron:
Mainstream press is starting to figure out that MS-Windows dominance will last only another 2- 4 years and that only because of the enormous marketing and lobbying engine that MS is. To add weight to that, MS blocked its employees from exercising their "underwater" stock options during 2004. That was intended to increase retention, as employees need to remain with Microsoft to receive the payout. Retention would not be an issue unless the company looked to have no future.
Many execs, however haven't been able to empty their portfolios yet and want more delay.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
OSRM hired PJ to do a free-lance project for OSRM, a project PJ wanted to do on her own anyway but didn't have the time to do it. The project was to update the Linux timeline. OSRM hired PJ to do this project on a new site, Grokline, not on Groklaw, and said she could spend as much time as she needed to work on Groklaw. This was good as before PJ had to do freelance paralegal work which prevented her from spending as much time on Groklaw as she wanted. Now she could spend a lot more time.
Everybody's happy except those people who believe the lie that PJ sells insurance. She doesn't. She has no controlling interest in OSRM. She was hired by them to do a specific job, a job in fact that will lessen the need for people to get insurance!
As for the 228 or 283 patent violations, that gets thrown around loosely in very inaccurate ways. Read the orignal OSRM press release (yes, it came from them, not from PJ who had nothing to do with it) and you'll see that OSRM is NOT saying that Linux violates patents, but that in today's litigation-happy climate, it's good to be aware that there are a bunch of patents out there that are vague enough to possible be used in nuisance lawsuits by someone hostile to Linux. It doesn't mean Linux really DOES violate those patents, but that unscrupulous companies might try to pretend otherwise. As SCO proved, you can be completely wrong and yet gum up the court system for a long time while you blab about your lies. That costs money. So OSRM, as other groups did, stepped up and said if you were in a vulnerable position (that is, prominent and a likely target from a money-hungry unscrupulous company), they would offer insurance in the case that you did get take to court.
Individual developers don't have to worry about it. They're not the cash-rich targets the SCOs of the world seek to shake down.
None of the above will shake the confidence of the anti-Groklaw shills that are spreading lies about PJ in an attempt to discredit her. They may not be in SCO's employ, they might even be sincere (sincerely wrong, of course), but the net effect is to help SCO's efforts. Way to go, trolls. I hope anyone else who reads this will take the time to research what I said to prove for themselves that what I said is a lot more accurate than what the anti-Groklaw folks are saying.