OpenTangent

As i've mentioned before; Microsoft has quite an impressive patent portfolio but instead of being a safeguard against devious copycats, those patents contribute to an aggressive anti-competitive strategy . I am aware of three agreements that have recently been entered into regarding Linux and it's "infringements" on Microsoft's intellectual property. Firstly; after a couple of sessions in the courtroom TomTom gave into to pressure and signed an agreement with Microsoft and effectively paid them to use Linux on it's devices. Amazon runs Linux on it's Kindles and agreed to pay Microsoft for it before any lawyers got involved. HTC has also agreed to pay royalties to Microsoft for the use of Google Android on some of it's phones. It's a win/win situation for Microsoft because the companies that are willing to use Linux instead of Windows will be forced to pay Microsoft anyway. It seems Google has woken up the the fact that Linux is slowly becom...

The fact that the concept of intellectual property exists at all is, an indication that greed is a driving force in our global economy. A company that boasts about it's patent portfolio might as well have a marketing campaign declaring it's intention to stunt growth in technology. Microsoft is one such company and it doesn't just threaten, it's also willing to pull the trigger. With numerous lawsuits in it's wake Microsoft has clearly declared it's intolerance to competition, although they've been beaten in the patent game as well. Linux and all open source products for that matter are reasonably resistant to patent onslaught due to the nature of open licensing. I can comfortably say that Linux has been the single biggest influence in driving Microsoft innovation. Microsoft may not be able to destroy Linux as a competitor but that will certainly not stop them from trying to thwart it's success. Microsoft can still sue companies for using patent infri...