By now, everyone, including the yellow eyed penguins in New Zealand, have seen the Microsoft patent news around Linux. If not, check out this feed at Reuters.
In short, Microsoft claims that Linux violates 235 of their patents, and for the good of the world, will insist that these be licensed. Or else (nudge, nudge). Well the claim is that they'd prefer to license than litegate, but what would you expect in an interview.
Anyway the issue here is really not around Microsoft's claims, but rather around watching a multi-year initiative in open source outreach go up in smoke.
A few years ago, Microsoft started an open source initiative to reach out to the community, led by Bill Hilf, and Sam Ramji, Microsoft's OSSL and Port25 had a long hard path to acceptance, and even some trust. Over the past year, it's been interesting watching as the community (at least smart types) moved from the pre-conceived notion of Evil Empire to a stsed "These guys aren't that bad". In fact, at a recent Open Source Think Tank, Sam managed to clearly explain the concepts and forces behind the Novell-Microsoft licensing deal.
Years of outreach, resulting in positive good will... gone.
The Forbes article demonstrates the ever present danger in Microsoft, that the spokespeople may not be clearly aligned in content. While unspoken, the message came across, at least to me, as "Mama spank!", if the bad boys of open source don't stop all this nonsense and come back into the fold. In one fell swoop, the threat of patents, of legal attacks are all highlighted, outlined and identified. And all for our own good.
So what is it? Is Microsoft embracing the open source community, led by Port25, or is Microsoft out to destroy the underpinings of open source through the application of litigation.
It's not easy for large software companies to understand, much less embrace open source. Trust me, I can attest to this (with background in leading these initiatives at SGI and now Adobe). However, it gets much harder when the efforts are countered by voices on high.
In many ways, this is symptomatic of a company that fails to grasp the business concepts that open source can power. Note, I didn't say "open source business model". Open source is many things, but not a business model, instead it enables or acclerates business models. Sure, patent licensing or litigation is certainly a business model, but then, open source is an elusive target.
In short, I'm sorry to see that Microsoft, with the steps taken by Port25, have failed to be supported by its executives. Cause while Microsoft may think we are playing Monopoly (" Go directly to Jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200"), the open source world is building a whole new world.
As always, opinions are my own.