Will Balmer come after us?

[KingBahamut]

"According to an interview with Steve Ballmer in Forbes, Microsoft is open to the possibility of filing patent suits against Linux in the interest of their shareholders. Ballmer said: 'Well, I think there are experts who claim Linux violates our intellectual property. I'm not going to comment. But to the degree that that's the case, of course we owe it to our shareholders to have a strategy.' Microsoft filed more than 3000 new applications for software patents in 2005 and already owns more than 4000 patents, including many patents on fundamental, but trivial technologies, like double clicks."

http://www.forbes.com/home/enterprisetech/2006/03/22/ballmer-microsoft-linux-cz_df_0322microsoft.html

And will it really impact us in any way? Seems more like hed go after the independent developers (double clicks? , youd go after the UI devs not Linux as a whole , right?)

[endersshadow]

"According to an interview with Steve Ballmer in Forbes, Microsoft is open to the possibility of filing patent suits against Linux in the interest of their shareholders. Ballmer said: 'Well, I think there are experts who claim Linux violates our intellectual property. I'm not going to comment. But to the degree that that's the case, of course we owe it to our shareholders to have a strategy.' Microsoft filed more than 3000 new applications for software patents in 2005 and already owns more than 4000 patents, including many patents on fundamental, but trivial technologies, like double clicks."

http://www.forbes.com/home/enterprisetech/2006/03/22/ballmer-microsoft-linux-cz_df_0322microsoft.html

And will it really impact us in any way? Seems more like hed go after the independent developers (double clicks? , youd go after the UI devs not Linux as a whole , right?)

Who are they going to sue? Linus? The GNOME Foundation? Havoc?

It's just Balmer trying to scare those in the community. The truth is, OSS is a fractured, decentralized community without any real entity...Balmer would have to file tens of thousands of lawsuits to enforce his patents. If they were going to sue anybody over the double click, they'd sue Apple.

[NeghVar]

Well how many of their patents could they defend in court, they had to fight for a while until the courts finally upheld fat.

I would say this is mostly FUD, but most likely they would sue major things like red hat, novell, places that they can get money out of or some other good return.

I personally think software patents are ridiculous, I mean comon... double click is patented. A copy right is enough, that way you can't copy code.

Say you create a wiked program by using one code, sum1 else in a land far away does the same thing by using a completly different line of code. There should be nothing wrong with that. The benefit would not come from the original idea of the double click but by making your code the most efficient at doing double clicks.

There would still be innovation, just a different type, of course MS making an effiecient line of code to do something will never happen so while they say they don't like patents they will continue to enforce them.

[KingBahamut]

I have to aggree.

It would seem a losing fight for MS to go out and file suit against every bit of intellectual property infringment that could possibly happen. They be suing hundreds if not thousands to try to choke money out.

[KingBahamut]

I just found this bit.....rather funny.

Ballmer must go.

http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2006/03/vista-2007-fire-leadership-now.html

[Arktis]

I love it when people immediately discredit themselves:
Vista's deployment is going to come from people buying CPUs with the OS pre-installed, not dancing down the CompUSA aisle as they clutch that boxed version of Vista to their loving chest.You can install operating systems directly into the central processing unit now? :rolleyes:

[bored2k]

One word: developers.

[Brunellus]

I love it when people immediately discredit themselves:You can install operating systems directly into the central processing unit now? :rolleyes:
God, please, save us from the pedantry.

[Zodiac]

The threat of a patent lawsuit is no laughing matter, look at RIM... the slightest possibility that a company might held liable for running Linux might scare off a lot of the companies that initially looked at Linux as a viable option, or were using it.

Also, think of the RIAA... lawsuits can get to developers.

I doubt it will happen, this is mostly just FUD, but the threat might be enough...

[towsonu2003]

Such a law suit would possibly result in one of the following:

1. All other organizations (IBM, Novell, Red Hat, Apple and so on) suing Microsoft for their own patents (hence a patent war)

2. Outsourcing of open source projects & Linux+Distro development and distribution to another country (non-US)

I think #2 (distribution at least) would be beneficial to all of us, as all distros would come preloaded with the so called "RestrictedFormats"...

Which country would Linus go to?

[taurus]

Don't you worry. I have my tranquilizer gun really and I will put that dart in his big behind! Didn't they also try to copyright the word "Windows" but got shot down real quick a few years back???

[KingBahamut]

Linus would probably go to the UK most likely. That would be my first assumption.

[DigitalDuality]

It's already been said,

but do you know how many organizations they'd have to sue..lol.

Even the double click issue, That's just as much Apple as it is Linux, BSD, and solaris.

Balmer needs to go, and a good many MS employees think so too. He's nothing more than a college frat boy turned businessmen. He means squat to the technological world.

[Zodiac]

Linus would probably go to the UK most likely. That would be my first assumption.

Well he might not have to, his wife knows Karate :)...

I wonder if they teach you how to block chairs in Karate?

[KingBahamut]

Tove.....shes not Kathy "The Punisher" Long thats for sure.

I remember seeing her at a TBA (http://www.thaiboxing.com/) Sponsored event some number of years ago, shes not a bad fighter by most accounts.