Microsoft takes on the free world

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Microsoft counters that it is a matter of principle. "We live in a world where we honor, and support the honoring of, intellectual property," says Ballmer in an interview. FOSS patrons are going to have to "play by the same rules as the rest of the business," he insists. "What's fair is fair."


Lemme see , you wanna sue some people for writing software and giving it away. It's their software and why can't they give it away ? And you've copywrited a number of things that arn't yours , AFTER somoene else wrote them, and now claim copy write infringement. BUT , here's the kicker. You wont' say which copy writes are being infringed upon.


...when the Supreme Court stated in a unanimous opinion that patents have been issued too readily for the past two decades, and lots are probably invalid. For a variety of technical reasons, many dispassionate observers suspect that software patents are especially vulnerable to court challenge.


Oopsie.... so most of your patents are going bye bye if they get challenged.


At the same time, Smith was having Microsoft's lawyers figure out how many of its patents were being infringed by free and open-source software. Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they're being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them.

But he does break down the total number allegedly violated - 235 - into categories. He says that the Linux kernel - the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware - violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces - essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up - run afoul of another 65, he claims. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.


You're breaking our patents ! But we're not going to tell you which ones or how because you might ctually try to defend yourself or challenge our accusations in court. Just stop doing what you're doing , roll over and die , and everything will be hunky dory for us.


Now that Microsoft had identified the infringements, it could try to seek royalties. But from whom? FOSS isn't made by a company but by a loose-knit community of hundreds of individuals and companies.


And how ? Excuse me , I think you should stop writing software and giving it away for free or we'll sue you , thanks. Sue you for what ? Every penny you made selling the stuff ... oh ..you're not selling it are you .... lol ... not a happening thing !


So they came up with a twist: Microsoft and Novell agreed not to sue each other's customers for patent infringement. That would be okay, because it's something that the GPL does not address.


You're going to sue the end user ? For what ? Not buying Windows ? Ohh..the backlash from that one is going to bankrupt you , Bill Gates. People are ornery and short tempered. You can't sue them into buying your product , they'll give you the finger and swear off anything to do with your company forever.


FOSS developers, who do not have the resources to defend themselves against a Microsoft patent suit, felt safe as long as powerful corporate Linux users shared their cause. But now the big boys could just buy their Linux from a royalty-paying vendor like Novell, getting protection from lawsuits and leaving the little guys to fend for themselves. What the shortsighted corporate types didn't grasp was that without the little-guy developers there might not be any high-quality FOSS for them to use five years down the road.



And that is the hole in all of this.

Linux is written by volunteers. What do you think is running through those volunteers mind when Microsoft , the enemey of free software , buys up Red Hat Linux and declares them all unpaid employees, declares that it's going to make a profit off *YOUR* hard work and you arnt' going to get a dime out of the deal ?

I don't know. But I do know they're going to hit the road and find some other free software project to work on, and Red Hat will suddenly stall and die. In fact it's already showing signs of this , the bright star of the Linux world a few years ago is today the laughing stock of it. The bad boy traiter / Bill Gates servant.

You can't buy volunteers, they go where they will. Congradulations Bill Gates, you have now purchased a several year out of date single version of linux and driven out all the volunteers that were working on the next version , so there will be no next version for you.

Mean while, the next version of ubuntu linux truely does rock , I have to admit. It's almost as if all those highly experianced and skilled volunteers suddenly found a new home ....

Whats that ? Going to sue the "employee's" for breech of contract , for taking a hike with the company secrets ? How odd, I don't seem to recall any of them signing any contracts. And any code on their machine would be their personal property , now wouldn't it ? Since they're not actual employee's of anyone, it's hobby code ! Something they're doing for thier own amusement , they are the only possible owner of that code.

You can't buy volunteers , Billy Boy Gates. So I gots to wonder , what did you pay 348$ million for ?