Home Messages Index
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index

[News] Will Microsoft Risk Attack from Oracle and IBM?

Ballmer rattles intellectual property saber at Linux

,----[ Quote ]
| You would have thought that by now Ballmer would have learned his
| lesson. After all, it was Microsoft that fueled up the SCO IP rocket,
| aimed it at Linux, and then watched as SCO's anti-Linux lawsuits have
| blown up.
| 
| SCO's IP claims against Linux have been proven time and again to ben
| othing more than bad jokes. Is there any reason to think that Microsoft's
| P claims wouldn't be more of the same?
| 
| Yes, there is one key difference. Microsoft, if it actually had
| anything to show, would likely be relying on patents rather than
| copyrights, against Linux. However, there's just couple of wee
| little problems with that approach.
| 
| First, let's assume that Microsoft isn't filled with morons. So,
| instead of threatening to sue customers -- and we all know how wellt
| hat worked out for SCO, don't we? -- they'll have to sue a big Linux
| vendor. Let's say, they decide to pick on Red Hat.
| 
| Now, as it just so happens, Red Hat isn't the only company that
| distributed RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). There's this other
| company named Oracle, which recently got into the RHEL business.L
| arry Ellison may call his version "Unbreakable Linux," but Oracle
| makes no bones about it: Unbreakable Linux is RHEL.
| 
| Microsoft might think it could break Red Hat down with a long enough
| lawsuit, but Oracle? Do the boys in Redmond really want to spend the
| rest of the next decade locked in battle with Larry Ellison? I don't
| think so.
| 
| Besides, does Microsoft think IBM will stay on the litigation sidelines,
| if it decides to play the patent card? IBM makes a lot of its billions
| from Linux, and I can't see Big Blue paying Microsoft off to continue
| using its favorite operating system.
|
| [...]
|
| So, from where I sit, if Microsoft really wants to try to slug it out with 
| Linux in the courts, it will first have to deal with other industry 
| heavyweights. It will also have to deal with all the negative PR that will 
| result from taking on a much smaller company. And, after all that, 
| Microsoft will still have the problem that trying to hit Linux on patents 
| will be like trying to give the north wind a good punch in the jaw -- it 
| simply can't be done.
`----

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7228555922.html

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Author IndexDate IndexThread Index