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Ballmer Won't Dismiss Idea of Suits Against Linux

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the errr dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to an interview with Steve Ballmer in Forbes, Microsoft is open to the possibility of filing patent suits against Linux in the interest of their shareholders. Ballmer said: 'Well, I think there are experts who claim Linux violates our intellectual property. I'm not going to comment. But to the degree that that's the case, of course we owe it to our shareholders to have a strategy.' Microsoft filed more than 3000 new applications for software patents in 2005 and already owns more than 4000 patents, including many patents on fundamental, but trivial technologies, like double clicks."

3 of 644 comments (clear)

  1. Slight correction. by Seta · · Score: 1, Redundant

    It's an acronym, not a word. It stands for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt", it's a marketing term, and can also be defined as (if you really want to) "Fucked Up Disinformation" if you like that better. It's no more a word than "LOL" or "ROFL". I mean this as a correction, not a flame, so please don't take it negatively. I do however agree with the frequent overuse of the acronym.

  2. Re:Not FUD, sound business tactics by Foofoobar · · Score: 1, Redundant

    This ain't FUD people, this is business as usual.

    Actually it's both! It's FUD AND Business as usual... for Microsoft.

    --
    This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
  3. Re:Do you know what FUD is? by rumblin'rabbit · · Score: 0, Redundant
    It is name calling, in that it impugns the speaker's motives. To say someone is spreading FUD is to say that they are maliciously spreading misinformation with the objective of creating baseless fear in the audience.

    I say forget the motives. We may assume that Steve Ballmer is going to have certain biases (as do we all). So concentrate on explaining why his arguments are wrong.