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One should be ever booted and spurred and ready to depart - Montaigne
Microsoft challenged to either put up or shut up
OPEN SAUCE group Open Invention Network (OIN) has called Microsoft's bluff on its sabre-rattling claims that Linux infringes some of its patents, reports Australia's IT News.
CEO of OIN Jerry Rosenthal believes that Microsoft's statements are empty threats. He says the Vole should either disclose exactly which patents its talking about or cut out slandering Linux and drop its claims.
"The FUD is clear. If you have a patent that you are proud of, then disclose it," Rosenthal said. "If your patent is a good patent then you are not worried about revealing it before going to court because you would be confident of success."
OIN and many open sauce developers suspect that, if Microsoft actually has any software patents to back up its bluster, those could either be invalidated by finding prior art or easily worked around with programming changes.
The president of the Open Source Consortium, Mark Taylor, was even more direct in denouncing Microsoft's patent claims about Linux. He said, "We say show us the patents. This has been the strategy against open source all along. It's precisely the same tactics as SCO used: implied threats and mafia techniques. This is just FUD. It's smoke and mirrors."
It's doubtful that Microsoft really wants to get into a software patent war with OIN, which has millions of dollars in a patent litigation war chest. In addition, OIN's members include Google, IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat and Sony. Microsoft could find itself on the defensive if actually goes to court against all of those companies over software patents. ยต
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You know what this is?
This is Linux, the most powerful OS in the world.
And, my question to you, Mr. Ballmer, is...
Do you feel lucky, punk?
Hi,

I think companies that put up false statements should be closed by gouvernement force.
Especially if they do it on purpose and intentional to hurt competitors.

In my opinion such a thing should be illegal, don't say something if you can't prove it!

M$ has done this all to often (others too), it's abuse of the justice system, one way or the other.
Such people should be put to jail and companies that practice this should be closed.

Prove your claim or be closed, would we way better for everybody.
A legal system shouldn't have to be bothered with FUD!
www.uspto.gov

Are there too many MS patents to go through them one-by-one? Ah - but that's exactly what you're suppose to do. When you start to manufacture and market something, if you don't check to make sure that you're not infringing patents, then how would you know? That's why the patent database is now kept on-line...

I realize that it is very difficult to prove a broad negative, and it would be easier if MS simply provided the details, but the usual method to make sure is to check yourself.

On the other hand, if they're spreading FUD, sue them. But to pull that trigger you had better have checked the patents first...

Either way...
Tsk .. Yawn, yawn, yawn.
When will Ballmer's imperial army assemble on the frontline? 
The sooner the better. Great delight will be taken in their foolhardy actions and costly defeat.
Come on, let's do it and let open source prevail.
I would kindky like to point a spelling mistake on the word "open source", which has been wronlgy spelled as "open sauce" in your articles. below is a link to one of them:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/05/vole-challenged-either-put-shut
Surely you mean open SOURCE and not open sauce.

Where are the editors?
I got a new one, how about suck cock or zipper. How about Microsoft suck our cocks or STFU.
Oh, goody, another reason for the lame linux fan boys do rip on MS.
So a M$ fanboi was upset that Micro$haft won't disclose the patents and prove they're right? 
Well boo hoo hoo. Gates once said in an interview that M$ could afford to give away the next version of Windows, but it made no business sense. And what is he doing now? 
Giving his money away to good causes. Now that is nice, but, what about giving away the next version of Windows to all the Vista users who've been tearing their hair out in frustration? 

And by the way, used to be a casual Linux user, installed PCLinuxOS on my new laptop because Vista was installed, and drove me insane within 10 minutes.