Microsoft 'warns of Linux claims'

[Kurt Wall]

On Tue, Nov 20, 2007 at 06:58:30PM -0800, Bob Hemus wrote:
> Got this link on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602325.stm
> 
> Begging your pardon Susan, but what a bunch of bull S**t!!!  Ballmer's
> first 4 letters of his name spell what he has more of than brains!!!!!

Old story, in a way. The same old FUD from a source that has everything
to gain by distortions, half-truths, and outright lies. The trouble with
Microsoft's patent claims is that they can't seem to articulate precisely
which 228 patents Linux violates. More to the point, if Microsoft tries
to enforce them, they have the most to lose, because IBM and Red Hat
and the other members of the Open Source Patent Project (or whatever it 
is called) have their own patent portfolio pledged to defending it. Most
notably, however, is that Ballmer is making this claim in Asia because
he can no longer make it, credibly, in the United States. The only people
that bought the line were the losers, wannabes, and has-beens known as
 Xandros, Linspire, and Novell.

Kurt