"When news came out that Microsoft was claiming that open-source technologies violate 235 Microsoft patents, it sparked a predictable firestorm of responses.
Most of these, both here at eWEEK and across the Web, have correctly identified this as a classic Microsoft campaign of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). Points have also been made about the likely inability of these claims to stand up in court, especially now that the Supreme Court has made it easier to invalidate a patent based on obviousness. However, there was one aspect of this whole circus that struck me immediately upon seeing the news. And that was that this whole effort of FUD on the part of Microsoft is a clear sign that they have given up. Microsoft has been fighting a war for the last several years, and this announcement about the 235 patents was as clear as a white flag that they have given up on ever winning that war. Which war is it that I'm referring to? It's the war over you, the IT worker and administrator." "But unfortunately for Microsoft, you kept on trying open-source products. And you found the products had support options every bit as good as commercial products. You also learned that open-source products were quite capable of handling the busiest and most resource-intensive enterprise demands. Then, you discovered whole vibrant communities of talented and eager open-source developers. In short, you discovered that Microsoft's claims about open-source technologies were just a bunch of FUD. And now it's clear that Microsoft knows this too. They were hoping to scare you away from open-source options, but now that their campaign has failed, they've clearly thrown in the towel." <http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2136181,00.asp> _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
