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From: | Rjack |
Subject: | Re: Microsoft going after Linux? |
Date: | Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:10:37 -0500 |
User-agent: | Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 (Windows/20081209) |
Doctor Smith wrote:
On Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:00:07 +0000, Andrew Halliwell wrote:Doctor Smith <iaintgotnostinkinemail@ols.net> wrote:They will be utterly crushed into the ground.Who? Tomtom?FSF
Micro$oft has $19 billion in cash on hand. It costs more than $1 million to prosecute or defend a patent claim. If someone like the Linux Foundation tries to sue Microsoft for really serious damages why wouldn't Micro$oft simply sue Linus Torvalds? You're looking at over $250 million in attorney fees just to defend against Microsoft's potential claims whether they are frivolous or not. I suspect Linux kernel developers would agree to vanish overnight in order to avoid potential infringement suits. No one can rely on life being fair. A monopolist like Microsoft with $19 billion in cash on hand will end up calling the shots in a patent war. The long historical road involving the development of computer software is littered with the dead bodies of Microsoft's enemies who forecast Redmond's imminent demise. Marshall Phelps, Microsoft's IP strategy manager formulated IBM's patent strategy back in the 1980's. Cavalierly dismissing Micro$oft patent threats would be foolhardy at best. Sincerely, Rjack :)
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