Microsoft claims Linux violates 235 patents
Microsoft claims that free software like Linux, which runs a big chunk of corporate America, violates 235 of its patents. It wants royalties from distributors and users.
Free software is great, and corporate America loves it. It’s often high-quality stuff that can be downloaded free off the Internet and then copied at will. It’s versatile - it can be customized to perform almost any large-scale computing task - and it’s blessedly crash-resistant.
Fortune magazine this morning has an explosive account of Microsoft’s contention that free software distributions violate at least 235 of the company’s patents - the first time Redmond has attached an actual number to this contention.
(Update 3: Hmmmm, seems that business about it being the first time isn’t exactly accurate … as in it’s absolutely wrong. The BBC had a number pegged — 228 patents — back in November 2004. Wired caught that one.)
