PDA

View Full Version : When will Microsoft sue Google over Linux



X1R1
February 24th, 2010, 06:50 PM
An interesting read, microsoft trying to get money out of linux and open source software, simply amazing. I just copy and pasted the content of the article here, if you want to see the website from which I got it, go here (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10458849-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20), its CNET so its a trusted source:


Microsoft once made the mistake of broad-brushing Linux as an intellectual property quagmire. It made Microsoft headlines, but few friends: lawyers didn't believe it, customers didn't want to hear it, and competitors dared it to sue.

Microsoft dialing for IP dollars
Years later, Microsoft still hasn't sued, but instead plods away at convincing the world, one patent cross-licensing agreement at a time, that everyone, everywhere owes it money for alleged violations of its IP in Linux.

This week, Microsoft made its boldest move to date, signing yet another patent cross-licensing agreement with Amazon, calling out that this agreement allows Amazon to use Linux. Yes, Amazon sells its Linux-based Kindle device, but the agreement also covers Amazon's use of Linux (presumably for the Amazon.com service, EC2, etc.), representing, as ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes, "the clearest indication so far from Microsoft that if you use Linux-based servers...you ow[e] them money."

Oh, really?

If Microsoft has such an ironclad case in this matter, there's just one thing to do:

Sue Google.

Google, after all, is the killer bee in Microsoft's bonnet, one that Microsoft has been at pains to repel, and one that depends heavily on Linux. Google Search, Apps, Chrome OS, Android, etc. make heavy use of Linux, and threaten to topple the Redmond giant.

So if anyone should be paying Microsoft for Linux, and if anyone has everything to lose from a lawsuit, it's Google.

Yet Microsoft has said nothing about Google. Why?

Perhaps it's because the strength of Microsoft's claims have never been tested, and may be quite weak. Linux kernel founder Linus Torvalds has suggested, "It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does."

Maybe Microsoft fears daylight shining on its Linux claims, a privilege that the Linux developers don't reserve for themselves, with 100 percent of the Linux code completely open for review (and modification if Microsoft could actually point to concrete violations in the code).

As Groklaw surmises (See sidebar):

I gather Microsoft's [modus operandi] is to make any company signing up with them in a patent cross licensing deal sign an NDA, so only Microsoft speaks in public, then they put out a press release which makes claims no one can check or verify, wave their arms about Linux, then go on to the next victim. Unless they show some details, it means absolutely nothing to me, except that Microsoft is very good at marketing FUD.

Indeed. Microsoft doesn't seem keen on providing details, because innuendo apparently serves it much better.

Microsoft's "respect our IP" please would be more credible if they weren't so nakedly anti-Linux. As Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin opines, "[It's a]mazing how despite the 'broad range of products and technology' covered in their cross license, Microsoft chose to focus on Linux and open source - distinctly calling it out from 'proprietary software' and wasn't specific about any patents."

It's clear that Microsoft wants to make much ado about its Linux claims. What isn't clear is why Microsoft doesn't put a lawsuit where it's mouth is. That would, after all, allow an independent judicial body to evaluate its claims.

Why not pit its supposedly strong patent portfolio against IBM, Red Hat, Google, or someone else with significant skin in the Linux game?

Perhaps because Microsoft fears the response. Amazon, Microsoft's backdoor neighbor in Seattle, isn't going to fight tooth and nail to defend the integrity of Linux. But Google would. And so would Canonical (Ubuntu), Red Hat, IBM, etc.

Microsoft can't afford to take on a party with a big vested interest in Linux, just as it can't afford to sue the entire planet, which has moved to Linux en masse, from the U.S. government to every single company in the Fortune 500. Microsoft has lost the war. It's trying to pick up pennies at the edge of a few battles, and hoping to raise the price of Linux above $0.00.

Microsoft can't afford to compete with free, because its old-school business model can't process it. But this is Microsoft's failure, not Linux's.

Gartner Research Vice President Brian Prentice thinks that Microsoft might actually be making good-faith attempts to broker a conversation with the open-source world through such patent agreements. I don't, as there are much more productive ways to accomplish this end, ways that Microsoft has studiously avoided.

Instead, Microsoft seems to want to pay lip service to patent reform and open source while engaging in activities that undermine both. The global patent system is a morass, one that costs the technology economy far more than it contributes.

Microsoft could do much to improve things. Microsoft needs to do much to improve things, because Microsoft's next three decades of growth depend as much on open source as its last three decades have depended on proprietary licensing. That's the lesson that Google and other next-generation technology companies have shown. Is Microsoft listening?

KiwiNZ
February 24th, 2010, 06:56 PM
Thread title change to more accurately reflect story quoted

MicrosoftFan
February 24th, 2010, 06:59 PM
Maybe Microsoft want to implement 1-click buying on something. :)

Sporkman
February 24th, 2010, 07:08 PM
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1414343

X1R1
February 24th, 2010, 07:30 PM
I think this kind of things shows that Microsoft is now seriously concerned about the open source community and the threat of losing market, It will be a better world if we all use a Free OS by default :D

Megrimn
February 24th, 2010, 07:44 PM
Microsoft sure likes setting itself up for embarrasment, doesn't it?

X1R1
February 24th, 2010, 08:41 PM
Yeah, first windows Vista, and then this, what will be next? A picture of bill gates naked?

MooPi
February 24th, 2010, 09:09 PM
Yeah, first windows Vista, and then this, what will be next? A picture of bill gates naked?
I don't need that image in my head :roll:
I'd like to echo these sentiments that I couldn't express as well as Larry,
http://lmaugustin.typepad.com/lma/2009/02/linux-microsoft-and-patents-its-time-to-get-the-fat-out.html

gsmanners
February 24th, 2010, 10:14 PM
It isn't just Google who use Linux. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption

Going after Linux in general would cause Microsoft to be crushed like a freight train running over a tin can.

Woolio1
February 24th, 2010, 10:51 PM
It's pretty sad when Microsoft has to go around suing simply to get some same-price competition. Because they know we're already as good, if not better, than they are, and they want to have us charge more for our software than they charge for theirs, so they can get more buyers.

But if they sue Google, they are ROYALLY screwed.

handy
February 25th, 2010, 12:53 AM
Thanks for that post X1R1, it is a beauty. :)

If MS went to court charging that Linux has violated its IP, I'd love to see the Judge(s) call for MS to show some specified code to a behind closed doors evaluation team.

Like most of us, I expect that MS have been stealing code left right & centre from FOSS people for decades.

Kai69
February 25th, 2010, 03:28 AM
Thanks for that post X1R1, it is a beauty. :)

If MS went to court charging that Linux has violated its IP, I'd love to see the Judge(s) call for MS to show some specified code to a behind closed doors evaluation team.

Like most of us, I expect that MS have been stealing code left right & centre from FOSS people for decades.

+1 Maybe thats the reason they have never disclosed what patent OSS is violating they just issue a letter to the company concerned and the company pays up Bully tactics Microsoft must be getting desperate.
Why doesnt microsoft just make a product for their own market and leave the rest of the world alone we dont need the junk the US makes nor does the rest of the world thats why most contries are switching to OSS US corporate practice means pay pay pay if it free its bad

Icehuck
February 25th, 2010, 04:30 AM
+1 Maybe thats the reason they have never disclosed what patent OSS is violating they just issue a letter to the company concerned and the company pays up Bully tactics Microsoft must be getting desperate.
Why doesnt microsoft just make a product for their own market and leave the rest of the world alone we dont need the junk the US makes nor does the rest of the world thats why most contries are switching to OSS US corporate practice means pay pay pay if it free its bad

Sure, the US will remove it's businesses from the world. Just give back your AMD/Intel processors and remove any code from Linux that came from US based businesses.

MasterNetra
February 25th, 2010, 04:40 AM
hmm Couldn't Linus or some linux company sue MS for false claims, slander or something? I thought there was something like that here in the states.

KiwiNZ
February 25th, 2010, 04:43 AM
OK enough