****Re: Novel and Microsoft

[Craig White]

On Fri, 2006-11-24 at 07:41 -0700, Gerald Thurman wrote:
> 11/23/2006 Slashdot had a hyperlink to IBM's view of the
> Novell-Microsoft deal. IBM thinks it is a good thing.   They are happy
> the Linux market place appears to have consolidated down to two solid
> corporate-supported distributions:  Red Hat and Novell.  IBM's VP of
> Worldwide Linux and Open Source might be right when he said "It's
> Linux's time." 
> 
> http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4468266798.html
> 
----
That is a bit naive.

I know for certain that it become a more common strategy to litigate IP
infringement cases against end users...for example:

http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20050822040508297

I know this because I have done/sometimes do computer consulting for
some of the lawyers that work for the Lemelson Foundation.

Should Microsoft decide to litigate it's patents for infringements, it
would almost certainly be against an end user and not against a Linux
distribution or individual project...but therein lies the rub. Should
Microsoft choose to litigate against American corporations, the
resulting shock wave would be strong.

Craig