Posted on 05/16/2007 5:43:06 AM PDT by Zakeet
Linus Torvalds has hit back at Microsoft's claims that it holds 42 patents that are infringed by the Linux kernel.
Torvalds, the leader of the project to create the Linux kernel, was contemptuous of Microsoft's claims and has asked Redmond to name the infringements so that their veracity can be challenged and workarounds found.
"Naming them would either make it clear that Linux is not infringing at all (which is quite possible, especially if the patents are bad), or would make it possible to avoid infringing by coding around whatever silly thing they claim," he said in an email exchange with Information Week.
"So the whole 'We have a list and we're not telling you' should tell you something. Don't you think that if Microsoft actually had some really foolproof patent, they'd just tell us and go, 'nyaah, nyaah, nyaah!'?"
Torvalds added that Microsoft might have patent problems of its own if the company was to expose its software to public scrutiny in the same way as Linux.
He said that operating system procedures have not changed much since the 1960s, and many companies, including IBM, have patents of which Microsoft could well find itself in breach.
Torvalds was sanguine over the possibility of legal action and believes it unlikely that anyone would get sued.
"Microsoft would have to name the patents then, and they are probably happier with the [fear, uncertainty, doubt] than with any lawsuit," he predicted.
Nah, it's pro bono for the benefit of my fellow Freepers.
lol
kthx
Thanks...LOL!
You might find it interesting to read Torvalds’ biography.
He’s been at the forefront of the open source movement for very good reason.
It is not ONLY the “bigger players” MS is trying to scare, I believe. It is also those small companies and individuals who are considering moving their business to Linux-based software and computers that MS is trying to scare.
MS is not scaring me with this junk, but if they even sent me a letter it would probably cost them more than they would ever be able to recover.
The problem, according to D'Aprano, has been exacerbated with the muted reaction in the business world to the release of Vista.So I think you may be correct. They just don't know how to compete with Linux, and Vista was a huge flop for them. Now, instead of customer lock-in to the next version of Windows, Vista is different enough that it is actually competing with Linux head-to-head. Since training will be a big cost, why not go with Linux instead of Vista?
"People are thinking about paying thousands of dollars to migrate to Vista with the costs of retraining, software licenses, hardware updates being incredibly significant. This explains why there's been so little interest in upgrading to Vista. When XP came out people were saying they couldn't wait to jump on board. With Vista they're bored because there's nothing in Vista that people really want. A lot of people are saying that Vista is like XP with some nice graphical themes added.
"Companies are thinking that if they've got spend tens of thousands of dollars to migrate away from XP, what's the advantage of migrating to Vista and why don't they look at migrating to Linux. That's what's got to be scaring Microsoft more than anything else."
Roscoe: You Duke boys are under arrest! Hee hee!
Bo: Arrest? What for?
Roscoe: For... for... for breakin' the law!
Luke: Roscoe, you have to be a little more specific....
That's ridiculous. Patents, once issued, are part of the public record. A specific patent either holds up in court or it doesn't when the owner attempts to enforce it. There's no legitimate reason for refusing to identify the specifics of an alleged infringement.
That one made me choke on my lunch! Geez, all IBM has to do is pull out the POSIX standards and say, "of COURSE it does things like UNIX does, that's what this interoperability standard is FOR!"
I recall that one of the terrorist organizers captured in the invasion of Afghanistan claimed that al-Qaeda had infiltrated Microsoft and was subverting the new Windows XP code with "viruses, trojans, and bugs".
I suppose that's as good an explanation for the state of Microsoft code as any....
Gates is getting rusty as a poker player.
Good deal for their "agent".. All he had to do was get his a** out of an Afghanistanian hell-hole, go live near Seattle (maybe still a hell-hole, but much improved scenery, food, and coffee), and just claim credit for every bug, trojan, and virus inside of and made for XP.
He gets an A+ performance review for doing nothing!
That is really true, I believe. And the FACT of the matter is that you REALLY need a more powerful computer to run Vista than you need for XP -— and that putting one of the newer versions of Linux on a MUCH older computer gives you better performance than XP! - and the “eye candy” gives Vista a run for the money. I have Fedora Core 6 running on several 350MHz Pentium 2s, and it is very fast, extremely stable, and I have ZERO concern about virus/ firewall/ etc., since the vulnerabilities are minimal ... contrasted with having to make certain almost daily that XP has not been violated (though, so far Vista seems to have a good track record there).
I honestly thought almost immediately that MS was trying to scare people/ smallbusinesses into not reconsidering whether they HAD to go to Vista because of the FUD of MS’ future actions. Most have no idea that MS has to disclose these “violations” for them to have any force, and might just say “can’t take the risk” and blindly follow the crowd.
Meanwhile, for almost all that most small business has to do, Linux/OpenOffice/Apache performs remarkably well out of the box, and does not require nearly the hardware expense.
I’d like to be added to the Tech Ping list, please.
Thanks
papa
You’ve been added. Welcome Aboard!
Microsoft should be happy that Linux is around, otherwise they would have a monopoly and would be broken up.
I seem to recall that SCO had similar trouble a few years back, citing a report as support for their position, that actually worked against them.
I'm convinced these upper-management blowhards like Ballmer don't actually bother to check the information that their synchophant middle-managers bring them in an effort to curry favor.
What a stupid turd. You'd think with a multi-billion dollar business at stake, he'd at least take the time to read and understand things before he runs his mouth off half-cocked in public.
I’ve never been impressed with Ballmer as a CEO/President/whatever. From his first day on the job, I thought he was in over his head, and I still do.
Slashdot Through the Patent Looking Glass with Microsoft
***************************EXCERPT*************************
To get to the bottom of the issue, though, you have to take a deep dive into how patent cross licensing works these days. When you do, you realize that patents don't mean what they used to, and have far more defensive than offensive value in the marketplace today. It also becomes apparent that it really doesn't matter whether Microsoft has valid patents or not, because so many other companies do as well. Today, what companies worry about isn't asserting their patents against other companies, but maintaining their freedom of activity. In this case, the open source community can simply ride the coattails of the major vendors, because Microsoft doesn't hold enough cards to win the hand, much less the game."
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