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Torvalds Says Microsoft is Bluffing on Patents

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the summon-the-patent-attorneys-from-their-crypts dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft's aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than "a marketing thing," according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel. "They have been sued for patents by other people, but I don't think they've — not that I've gone through any huge amount of law cases — but I don't think they've generally used patents as a weapon," Torvalds said. "But they're perfectly happy to use anything at all as fear, uncertainty and doubt in the marketplace, and patents is just one thing where they say, 'Hey, isn't this convenient? We can use this as a PR force.'""

8 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Another Flamewar? by JeepFanatic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is Taco trying to completely set /. into a total flamewar? Two political topics, MS vs Google, and now a Linux vs Microsoft article?

    1. Re:Another Flamewar? by mhall119 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well at least we've settled the fact that Gnome and Vim are better than KDE and Emacs.

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      http://www.mhall119.com
    2. Re:Another Flamewar? by somersault · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oi, who let you in here!? Back to accounts with you and let the engineers/scientists do some Microsoft bashing! ;)

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      which is totally what she said
    3. Re:Another Flamewar? by mhall119 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sorry, the ring is PowerPC based, fight canceled.

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      http://www.mhall119.com
  2. Re:not now perhaps ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If/when Linux becomes a significant threat to growth, you can be sure Microsoft will use all tools at its disposal, including parents, aggressively. If Ballmer brought his parents, there could be trouble.
  3. Re:not now perhaps ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "you can be sure Microsoft will use all tools at its disposal, including parents, aggressively."

    Yep, they'll get the parents to kick the linux kids out of the basements, forcing them to get real jobs. Once that is done, linux goes away and the rest of us can get back to real unix

    Now, get out of my yard, you young whippersnappers.

  4. The MS FUD Announcement That Will Stun Us All by Dystopian+Rebel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ballmer: Linus Skyvalds, I am your father.

    Skyvalds: Noooooooooooooooo!

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    Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
  5. Re:not now perhaps ... by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ballmer's parents are going to have to get past my parents if they hope to invade my basement stronghold.