Ballmer Repeats Threats Against Linux

daria42 writes "Steve Ballmer has reissued Microsoft's patent threat against Linux, warning open-source vendors that they must respect his company's intellectual property. In a no-nonsense presentation to New York financial analysts last week, Microsoft's chief executive said the company's partnership with Novell, which it signed in November 2006, "demonstrated clearly the value of intellectual property, even in the open-source world.""

I do not get this

[Reverse Gear (891207)]

I wonder how Balmer thinks that they are going to sue something that no one owns, that no one made.

Is he going to sue anyone who uses this?
Is he going to sue those who hoste the code?

From the article it seems it is mostly the Linux vendors that Ballmer wants to target.

The US is, as far as I know, the only country that has implented all these sick software patent laws until now, how are they going to sue a UK based company?

With the current state of things the worst that could happen is that companies stop using Linux in the US, I don't see how they want to sue anyone based in Europe?
Would the US government then start supporting Microsoft in trade wars?

This whole software patent thing is beyond my understanding, I wonder if anyone out there really get the idea behind this?

Re:I do not get this

[by Anonymous Coward]

There's another name for this technique: "protection money". You don't actually need a reason to request such money, you just need to be strong enough.

Re:I do not get this

[Frosty Piss (770223)]

I wonder how Balmer thinks that they are going to sue something that no one owns, that no one made.

Is he going to sue anyone who uses this?

Is he going to sue those who hosts the code?

Yes.

And, it looks like the EU is starting to move the same direction as the USA with respect to IP laws, so don't think you Europians will get a "walk" on this. Microsoft sees a major crack in their entire philosophy of business, and they will use their finantial advantage to stamp out those who get in their way. Watch out, SCO was just fodder, the real fight is yet to come.

Sabre rattling

[slofstra (905666)]

This sabre rattling against Linux has potential adverse effects for the entire economy, if Microsoft is able to push Windows into every corner. Windows is just terrible in certain situations, such as ATMs and aruably, pocket PCs and handheld devices. Perhaps the government should be looking into anti-trust; we need to see competition in the market place for operating systems.

Re:I do not get this

[Stormwatch (703920)]

Nobody will stop using linux because of Balmers idiotic statements. There is no way the company I work for would shell out the $$$$$ necessary to change out linux for Windows Server 2003. The caos company wide would be awful!

That's not the point. He wants to scare companies away from moving to Linux in the first place.

Re:I do not get this

[Aptgetupdate (1051164)]

It's taken you 10 years to get your system the way you like it? Is this a Gentoo installation?

Re:I do not get this

[CmdrGravy (645153)]

Microsoft is a multinational company, they could sue anyone anywhere.

Well they could try but in countries which don't have software patents they're not likely to get very far.

Re:I do not get this

[robyannetta (820243)]

I'd love to read Steve Jobs' reply to the "BSD is dying" argument.

Re:Everything old is new again.

[a_n_d_e_r_s (136412)]

Well, there are two options:

1. Ballmer is right and are not protecting shareholders interest.

2. Ballers is wrong and are lying to his shareholders.

Whats true ? Whats worse ? Either way - he's out on a limb on this one - wonder who will push him off it ?

Details, Ballmer or it ain't so

[RichMan (8097)]

IBM is still digging into SCO's near corpse to find the detials of SCO's accusations. Which were, are and for ever more shall be totally bogus.

Ballmer needs to stop saying "they stole our IP" and start citing versions, files, lines and patent numbers. Otherwise Microsoft looks like a bigger SCO. And that is not a pretty picture for a company like Microsoft intends itself to be.

Re:Details, Ballmer or it ain't so

[jeevesbond (1066726)]

IBM is still digging into SCO's near corpse to find the detials of SCO's accusations. Which were, are and for ever more shall be totally bogus.

The difference between the two cases is SCO claimed copyright infringement whereas Microsoft is claiming patent infringement (I believe).

Software patents are so much more vague than copyright, so there's a good chance some of the GNU/Linux operating system is infringing. Remember the study that found 283 possible software patent infringements [internetnews.com] in the Linux kernel alone? I would be suprised if some of those didn't belong to Microsoft (and that was 2004, there are probably more now).

This public sabre-rattling is not without basis. Seems to me that Microsoft are keeping the specifics under wraps, then threatening companies with them in private. Remember what ex-Novell employee said in this interview [itworldcanada.com]? Here's a reminder:

I mean I have had people come up to me and essentially off the record admit that they had been threatened by Microsoft and had got patent cross license and had essentially taken out a license for Microsoft patents on the free software that they were using, which they then cannot redistribute.

It's also funny you should mention this:

Otherwise Microsoft looks like a bigger SCO.

Some people (including this respected legal blogger [lamlaw.com]--at the bottom of that article) believe Microsoft funded and put SCO up to its anti-GNU/Linux FUD litigation. So, really they are a bigger SCO!

Whatever

[TheWoozle (984500)]

To: Steve Ballmer

Dear sir,

Either file suit against the parties infringing on your precious IP, or SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Sincerely,
Everyone

P.S. - Vista blows donkey balls.

Distraction

[technomancerX (86975)]

Ballmer's Thought Process:

Hmmm Vista is floundering and we need to distract the press from this and the piracy angle isn't working... what can we do... oh yeah, let's threaten open source, that should distract them.

Alternately

Hmmm Vista sales are floundering, and even I'm not stupid enough to really think it's piracy causing it, Hmmmm.... it must be that open source stuff, time to threaten to sue somebody.

Ballmer == Eric Cartman?

[jeevesbond (1066726)]

Does anyone remember that South Park episode where Cartman became a cop?

Just think of Ballmer with those aviator sunglasses on (that had the reflection of mountains in the background) shouting: 'You will respect my intellectual propertayyyyy!!!'

Mutually Assured Destruciton

[Orange Crush (934731)]

I somehow doubt Microsoft would be foolish enough to actually fire off patent suits . . . especially when there are other big players with massive patent portfolios and a vested interest in Linux . . .

Secretary: "Mr. Ballmer, I have a group of IBM attorneys in the lobby asking to see you, shall I let them in?"

Ballmer: "My God Man! Do they want to settle my patent suit against Linux?"

Secretary: "I'm not sure what they want sir . . . but they brought a flag.

The Next Thing You Know....

[Snowcap557 (883211)]

Linus Torvalds will come home and find the head of a penguin in his bed.

How long ago was it?

[kosh (4232)]

How long ago was it that Microsoft was complaining that the better product should prevail due to competition and not through litigation in the courts?

Seems that they are now changing their tune... I'm not surprised...

BSA

[wytcld (179112)]

Here's the threat. The Business Software Alliance [bsa.org] already can come in and audit companies for bootleg copies of Microsoft software. If they've forced their way in to do an audit anyway, and they find "unauthorized copies" of Microsoft-claimed "IP" - which is to say, Linux running - then in the future they can try to levy the same penalties against you as they currently do for running more copies of Office than you can produce licenses for.

From our perspective, this absolutely has to be stopped. But the BSA already has the legal authority to get in the door in many cases, and once they're looking at your systems for Microsoft wares, they'd better be checking the Linux boxes for Word running under Wine anyway - so checking them for Linux is a minor afterthought.

20 years stealing, and now this?

[boxlight (928484)]

Microsoft spent the last 20 years copying ideas from Apple, Netscape, Sun, AOL, Burst, and Google -- and now they have the nerve to complain that Linux looks like Windows??

The threat is real but empty

[CodeShark (17400)]

Suppose Ballmer et. al manage to isolate some IP, manage to win the case, and then try to sue any company that sells or distributes the offending IP. Could put a serious cash flow dent in a competitor for a short period of time. Assume also that the M$ police can manage to pull an RIAA and threaten any non-corporate entity with a "roll your own" Linux distribution, and spend a hellacious amount of money doing it. An expenditure that probably wouldn't go over real well with the stock holders or market analysts.

In both cases there would be a brief chilling effect on the competition -- until the offending IP is pulled out of the Linux core and it is recompiled, at which point M$ has nothing. Except that in the mean time they may get hauled back into court for anti-monopoly practices, and that offending the highly intelligent Linux community is about as smart as kicking over a nest of fire ants -- because every major bit of M$ released code will be targeted for suing M$ for their own patent infringing code, etc.

So Ballmer's threat is akin to a robber pulling a gun in a doughnut shop only to discover that he is surrounded by a room full of well-armed, motivated policeman who would like nothing more than to put his sorry a$$ back where it belongs. We all know this, and M$ knows it as well. But so long as he can sell a few more copies of Vista, XP, etc. Ballmer has little to lose by acting the bully in the mean time.

Nice to hear

[hallie_ball (36026)]

It is very nice to hear Mr Ballmer yelling (cursing) this way, it means he is affraid for open source, open source is making more revenue then Mr ballmer wants.

So guys keep on the good work, when Mr Ballmer is yelling like a fool, the work is very good.

Thank you developers for this nice moment.

On Ballmers Computer

[shirizaki (994008)]

You are reissuing empty threat against Open Source. (Cancel/Allow)?

Didn't IBM pledge to let LINUX use their Patents?

[RalphSouth (89474)]

IBM has a big stake in LINUX continuing as it is. A relatively large percentage of their big mainframes are sold with LINUX running on them. The reason for having a large number of patents is to have the leverage to negotiate mutual use agreements. Balmer and MS will cause trouble by forcing some sort of mutual use agreement while spreading fear and doubt in the potential users of LINUX.

MS has got to be feeling some pressure with lack luster VISTA success. They have huge amounts of cash; but, the business analysts have to be wondering how long it will last if their cash cows start to under produce. When stocks sell at large multiples of their earnings the price is set by confidence that the company's earnings will increase at a steady rate. If confidence in the company's ability should fail, MS would be very disrupted. It hasn't happened yet; but, they have to allay the fears of people who recommend stocks.

Dance Ballmer Monkey Dance

[Ranger (1783)]

Look at him go! [google.com]

Re:I will only take this seriously

[varmittang (849469)]

Retards do too, why do you think they all try to eat paint chips.

Now, ask yourself, did you eat the paint chips?