J2D3

Microsoft’s Excessive Shit-Talking Causes Chronic Corporate Halitosis

Microsoft recently alleged that various forms of open source software collectively violate 235 of its patents. They say that Linux, GUIs, e-mail programs, and Open Office are among the IP violators. This is apparently aimed at Red Hat and other companies that sell service and support for free linux operating systems… an thinly veiled attempt to intimidate them into a Novell-like submission and to frighten the open source community in general. Their fear of Ubuntu is palpable. This is the classic desperate behavior of a corporate behemoth whose business model has come and gone.

Microsoft will not succeed in “destroying” the open source community, it’s far too entrenched and its power lies in its astructural, non-hierarchical modes of organization. Free Software is a horrible hydra for Microsoft. As well, some of the more strategic sub-organizations within the “Open Source Community” are prepared for a kind of mutually assured destruction scenario with patent infringement claims aimed at one another rather than ICBMs. Truly, the age of information warfare is upon us. From USAA Today’s article on the issue:

If Microsoft were to start suing, it could kick off a patent war on a grand scale. An organization called the Open Innovation Network, funded by IBM, Red Hat and others, has amassed a vast number of software patents. In the event of a Microsoft lawsuit against open source companies or customers, the OIN would retaliate in kind.

“We believe it’s highly likely that Microsoft would infringe some of our patents,” said Jerry Rosenthal, OIN’s chief executive.