[Tfug] Microsoft reportedly wants open source software users to pay rolyalties

[Christopher Robbins]

The sign of a fledgling Microsoft?  Why would they bring up a tactic like
this now?  Perhaps
a lukewarm response to Vista, the new Dell/Ubuntu deal, and the increased
talk of Linux amongst
big business?  Hell, the Japanese govt. just said that they were moving
open-source...

Microsoft is running scared...It's the only real reason to start suing -
they've become the company that
they bankrolled into suing IBM (SCO).  And what happens when IBM brings down
the patent hammer
on MS?  The day MS starts suing is the day that computing stops; both
companies have piles of
patents on...everything.  We may see software patent reform once and for
all...

Is this all they've got?  They can't innovate, so they've gotta come hunt us
down?

   - Chris


On 5/15/07, Shawn LaMaster <shawn at lamaster.com> wrote:
>
> Microsoft reportedly wants open source software users to pay
> royalties on 235 alleged patent violations.
>
> In an interview with Fortune magazine, Brad Smith, Microsoft's
> general counsel, and Horacio Gutierrez, the company's vice president
> of intellectual property and licensing, said open source software,
> including Linux, violates 235 Microsoft patents. And Microsoft wants
> distributors and users of open source software to start paying
> royalties for these alleged violations.
>
> "This is not a case of some accidental, unknowing infringement.
> ...There is an overwhelming number of patents being infringed,"
> Gutierrez said.
>
> http://www.networkworld.com:80/news/2007/051407-microsoft-demands-
> royalties-for-open-source.html?nlhtspec=051407specialalert1&
>
>
> Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy
> that sustained him through temporary bouts of joy.
>         - William Butler Yeats
>
>
>
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-- 
Chris Robbins
Systems Programmer
Department of English - University of Arizona
http://www.homerengineeringcorp.net