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Microsoft Taking Heat For Patent Stance

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-balance-sheet-liability? dept.

Yesterday Novell released a statement disavowing Steve Ballmer's claim that Linux infringes Microsoft's IP. Linux-watch.com reports that Microsoft quickly responded with a statement of its own that softened, but did not entirely back away from, Ballmer's claim (but the article offers no link to such a statement). xtaski writes, "Everyone took notice when Ballmer spewed forth FUD about Microsoft and Linux IP. Now CIOs are asking just what did Ballmer think he was doing? They are not fooled — but rather, a little angry. ComputerWorld covers the news including one CIO who says 'There were some applications I had been thinking about moving to a Microsoft platform, but this has now totally alienated me from Microsoft.'" And an anonymous reader points us to the statement by the Open Invention Network — whose investors include IBM, Novell, Sony, Red Hat, Philips and NEC — on the Microsoft-Novell agreement. From the statement: "OIN continues to support the Linux community's ability to collaborate and innovate. Through the accumulation of patents that may be used to shield the Linux environment, including users of Linux software, OIN has obviated the need for offers of protection from others."

8 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Are they feeling pressure? by filenavigator · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is interesting to see that they are starting to posture themselves in this way now. For all these years they really have not gone after anyone for patent violations - maybe that was because the going was good. Now that they have implemented all of their fancy piracy protection they need to keep others from providing alternative solutions that really are easier for a paying customer to use.

    Kinda reminds me of communist Russia and their fences and guns keeping their people from leaving the country.


    http://www.windows-admin-tools.com

  2. Linux throwing chairs by Tiger+Smile · · Score: 5, Funny

    When Linux started throwing chairs around the office like a spoiled child denied, then it crossed the patent line! Balmer is not amused!

    --
    -- Prepared at the direction of, or to be sent to Legal Counsel, in anticipation of litigation. Attorney Client Pri
  3. Microsoft has a problem enforcing their patents. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is a legal doctrine known as "unclean hands". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclean_hands It means that a plaintiff who behaves in a certain way can not get certain legal remedies. The most they can expect is actual damages. What actual damage (other than loss of a sale) does it do to Microsoft if my use of Linux violates one of their patents? Almost none.

    Any plaintiff has a duty to mitigate damages. A plaintiff who does not mitigate damages is coming to the court with unclean hands. Microsoft also has the problem that it is convicted on antitrust charges.

    If Microsoft wanted to sue someone for violating one of its patents by using Linux, it should have done so a long time ago. All it has now is the weapon of every bully; intimidation.

    On a side note, every time I have heard a company talk about monetizing its IP, it has nothing left. SCO is the classic case of that.

  4. To hell with them both. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At the company I work for, we've been using a mix of SuSE Linux (pre-Novell SuSE), FreeBSD, and Windows 2000 for years now. There's been some interest in upgrading some of the systems. It was suggested that the SuSE systems be upgraded to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, and that the Windows 2000 systems be moved to Windows Server 2003.

    Several days ago I had to submit a report to management regarding these proposed transitions. Put simply, I had to recommend against the use of the offerings from Novell and Microsoft. I don't feel that these companies are worth dealing with. Instead of putting money towards the development and improvement of their products, they've gotten themselves involved in this stupid deal. I'm sure a number of contract lawyers made quite a bit off of this arrangement. And for us, we don't need the uncertainty this deal brings.

    I had to recommend that we migrate much of our corporate network to FreeBSD, with Solaris or Debian Linux being my second choices. Thankfully, we write most of our Windows software in-house using wxWidgets for the GUI and PostgreSQL as the relational database of choice, so the transition should go fairly well.

  5. Re:CIO's response is logical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Think of what a successful MS lawsuit would have done to Linux market penetration, too. Even an unsuccessful, or settled lawsuit that dragged on long enough, would have sent CIOs and execs running scared from Linux... Right into the arms of Windows.

    The primary reason that didn't and won't happen is that one of the backers of Linux also happens to be the largest patent holder in the entire software sector (IBM). If Microsoft wants to bring a handful of patents to the war, IBM can roll out the machine guns. I guarantee you Microsoft and most other companies are infringing on one IBM patent or another.

  6. Somebody call SCO... by tclark · · Score: 5, Funny

    It looks like Microsoft is infringing on their "using bogus lawsuit threats to spread FUD" patent.

  7. This is part of Microsoft's DNA by surfdaddy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Microsoft has dropped to a new low. What of substance has Microsoft invented anytime lately? Perhaps the XBox. They've been riding their early entry into the PC market for 20 years. Their software is nothing great, and their entire growth M.O. is to shut out competition by virtue of their monopoly on the Windows OS. They are scared shitless that Linux is going to eventually kill much of their business.

    Microsoft did this to Netscape. They tried to kill Apple years ago and only let Apple survive to prove that they were not monopolists. They funded SCO through a back door third company in their lawsuit against Linux. Now that that has failed, Microsoft is going directly against Linux. In the meantime, very little innovation has been realized from the massive profits that the company generates. Contrast with Apple. They first popularized the GUI. The 3.5 inch floppy. SCSI. PDA (Newton). Built-in networking. Hyperlinking. MP3 player with integrated software on the computer/synchronization paradigm. And they've translated their entire operating system and hardware line into a new technical architecture in less than half the time Microsoft has needed to upgrade their piss poor OS to a newer resource hogging OS with few significantly newer features.

    What is so funny is that Microsoft coming out with the Zune! They see Apple with a big new music market. Microsoft wants a piece of this action! And they are going to fail, because Apple has a huge ecosystem of hardware, software, accessories, and ever car makers putting iPod interfaces in! Did you see that even the airlines are working on iPod interfaces for power, audio, and video in their airplanes?! Hahaha to Microsoft - Apple is doing the same thing to Microsoft that Microsoft has done to them in the PC OS! And I'm glad!

    So I'm not usually highly emotional about these things, but Microsoft is scum! Microsoft - up yours!

  8. We need counter FUD by greg_barton · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's time to fight FUD with FUD.

    According to the Vista EULA, if you develop code on the Vista platform, MS can claim IP rights to that code.

    Is that true?

    Dunno... It's just what some lawyer friend told me...