Microsoft poses a patent threat to Linux

Linux, one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software (FOSS), has been accused of violating 42 Microsoft patents and an additional 65 by its user interface and other design elements. Also, OpenOffice.org is accused of infringing 45, along with 83 more in other free and open-source programs, making it a total of more than 230 patents violation as stated by Microsoft’s top lawyer Brad Smith in an interview with America’s business magazine, Fortune.

Microsoft's Brad Smith (General Counsel) and Horacio Gutierrez (Licensing) however did not state which particular patents were infringed.

The Microsoft patent owner, CEO, Steve Ballmer is insisting on mapping out a strategy for getting FOSS users to pay royalties making free software not free anymore.

Open-source competitors need to "play by the same rules as the rest of the business," said Ballmer. He also quoted, "What's fair is fair. We live in a world where we honor, and support the honoring of, intellectual property."

Microsoft aims to encourage Linux dependant large tech companies to ink patent deals initiating with its controversial pact with Novell. Linux protection also played a role in recent patent swap deals with Samsung and Fuji Xerox as cited by Microsoft.

Major computing companies like IBM, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Oracle use Linux operating system. It will be a complicated task for Microsoft to undertake a legal action against the widely based free software users.

Different companies in the past have dealt with the open source software patents problems in their own ways like HP took a pro patent stance while IBM, Nokia, Sun etc have granted some free software rights.

According to a survey Linux is the most popular open source operating system in the market and is a big competitive challenge for Microsoft as it allows a company to do more remote network administration and software loads than was possible with Microsoft that drives down their network management costs. Also Microsoft is more expensive than Linux because Microsoft is a propriety code whereas Linux is an open source.