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Microsoft aiming IBM-scale patent program at Linux?
Andrew Orlowski Dec 08 2003
While attention has been focused on The SCO Group's IP suit against
free software, Microsoft itself has prepared the ground for a full
scale patent licensing program in which smaller vendors will be the
most vulnerable.
In June, Microsoft hired Marshall Phelps from IBM, the executive who
began IBM's patent-based revenue program in 1985 ..
[..]
... Microsoft crossed a historic line by monetizing its FAT and
Cleartype patents. While the FAT file system is maybe a legacy
technology in personal computers, it's ubiquitous in the removable
media used in digital cameras ..
[..]
"Microsoft is deciding that there's money to be made and control to be
had by exercising patents, so first they said they'd spin it as if it
was a good thing," says Sun Microsystems' chief technology evangelist
Simon Phipps. "It's a pre-emptive strike that makes Microsoft look
like victims rather than perpetrators."
[..]
"They're not posturing and appearing aggressive, " Phipps told us,
"but the potential for harm is on a par with the SCO suit.
[..]
Microsoft's actions so far don't constitute a full frontal attack on
free software. It's often been rumored that Microsoft has a number of
patents - the number varies - on the Linux kernel itself. But it has
chosen not to pursue such an inflammatory tactic, just yet, and may
not even need to at all in order to succeed.
[..]
So there's no mistaking a rhetorical campaign from Redmond to
"delegitimize" free software, and a parallel campaign to "legitimize"
use of Microsoft IP under an approved license, under certain
conditions. Microsoft would far rather you run untamed Linux code on
its partitioned Windows servers hosting UNIX services.
At some point in the future, we suspect, having convinced the world
that Linux is a nasty but necessary virus, it will generously offer to
host it all on giant Windows clusters. (Earlier this year, Microsoft
bought Connectix's VM software to do just that job).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/34391.html
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