“In comments confirming the open-source community’s suspicions, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer today declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft’s intellectual property,” Eric Lai reports for Computerworld.
Lai reports, “In a question-and-answer session after his keynote speech at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle, Ballmer said Microsoft was motivated to sign a deal with SUSE Linux distributor Novell Inc. earlier this month because Linux ‘uses our intellectual property’ and Microsoft wanted to ‘get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation.'”
“‘Novell pays us some money for the right to tell customers that anybody who uses SUSE Linux is appropriately covered,’ Ballmer said. This ‘is important to us, because [otherwise] we believe every Linux customer basically has an undisclosed balance-sheet liability,'” Lai reports.
“‘My reaction is that so far, what he [Ballmer] said is just more FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt],’ said Pamela Jones, editor of the Groklaw.net blog, which tracks legal issues in the open-source community. ‘Let him sue if he thinks he has a valid claim, and we’ll see how well his customers like it,'” Lai reports.
“Jones also challenged Ballmer to ‘put his money where his mouth is’ and detail exactly what part of the Linux kernel source code allegedly infringes upon Microsoft patents, so that ‘folks will strip out the code and work around it or prove his patent invalid,'” Lai reports. “Ballmer did not provide details during his comments today. But he was adamant that Linux users, apart from those using SUSE, are taking advantage of Microsoft innovation, and that someone — either Linux vendors or users — would eventually have to pay up. ‘Only customers that use SUSE have paid properly for intellectual property from Microsoft,’ he said. ‘We are willing to do a deal with Red Hat and other Linux distributors.’ The deal with SUSE Linux ‘is not exclusive,’ Ballmer added.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft and “innovation” go together like Steve Ballmer and antiperspirant.
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Whatever Ballmer is smoking – I want some – that’s good stuff!!!
Ah! There you are! This is the last time you will escape, FrankenCEO! I’m sorry for any distress he may have caused you ladies and gentlemen; not being capable of normal human cognitive processes, he simply does not know any better. You have been very BAD, FrankenCEO, and you’ve ruined your shirt. It’s a night in the stocks for you, I’m afraid, and thrity lashes with the cat o’ nine tails . . .
Beleagured MSFT starting to look to litigation to ensure a revenue stream
mw: made
uh… MSFT never made 1 true innovation
IIRC, Microsoft and its Windows operating system also infringes on various technology covered by patents.
Steve Ballmer is a hypocrite!
Typical trolling dirt ball, demorat.
balmer is the son of shaitan
Hey Ballmer! you should patent your MonkeyDance!
“I read years ago that Windows NT/2000 was based on a DEC kernel.”
The Windows NT effort was headed by a long time DEC lead programer with I think a lot of other ex DEC people. MS hired the guy and he headed the project for them.
The whole notion of software “intellectual property” needs to go. Copyright the code, yes, but to patent the function of a button so that no one can make any button that does something similar in a completely different language on a completely different OS is ludicrous. If software monoliths had been this ridiculously steeped in greed in the ’80s, things like the print button, the save button, the min/max/close buttons, would all be patented and desktop innovation would be far behind where it is now thanks to this stiffling litigation. If the fashion industry operated like the software industry, someone would own the “intellection property” of the buttonhole, someone would have patented the collar and the zipper, and if you wanted to make a shirt you’d have to pay 18 different companies for the “license” to use these “innovations”.
— “Linux users, apart from those using SUSE, are taking advantage of Microsoft innovation, and that someone — either Linux vendors or users — would eventually have to pay up.”
Microsoft sounds scared. They are starting to take Linux seriously and NOW views them as a threat. HAHAHAHA! Is Vista not working out how you thought it would?
Linux users own it to that other Finnish guy Linus Thorvalds.
That Palmer is $uch a B1tch.
Ballmer puts down the SCO sock puppet and goes after Linux directly. For anyone who doubts how evil Microsoft is, the paranoid anti Microsoft crowd was/is right. I hope my Linux buddies just boycott the traitorous Novell — dump SUSE.
BTW, this may also give more impetus to Linux users to switch to Macs to further distance them selves from the Redmond vampire.
MW: friend: If you love tapeworms in your gut, Microsoft is your friend.
I don’t think Microsoft is afraid of Open-Source per se. What they do want to fight, however, is companies feeling like they can either get something for free OR pay Microsoft. This smells to me like they are trying to use underhanded tactics to level the playing field. Lawyers for big companies listen to this stuff and act accordingly. They don’t want “free” to be an option for corporate spending.