[X] M$ (p)wns Linux?!?!?!

Microsoft owns Linux now, Ballmer claims

Talking tough

By Nick Farrell (javascript:__doPostBack('article_body$lnkEmailFor m','')): Monday 20 November 2006, 06:37

MICROSOFT'S shy and retiring boss Steve 'there's a kind of hush' Ballmer might be gearing up to take Linux distributors to the cleaners. According to Linux World, Ballmer is whispering to all who can hear that Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.
Speaking at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle, Ballmer said that Vole signed a deal with SuSE Linux distributor Novell because the outfit was using Microsoft's intellectual property.
He said that the deal was a way for Vole to get an 'appropriate economic return' for its shareholders from Microsoft's innovation.
The statement is the first from Ballmer which places the Novosoft deal in context and indicates what Microsoft might do to try and shaft Linux.
Now it appears that the key part of the deal was that Vole was not going to sue SuSE Linux users over possible patent violations.
Ballmer said that the deal meant that Novell paid Vole money for the right to tell customers that anybody who uses SuSE Linux that it is appropriately covered from legal action by Microsoft. He said this meant that everyone who used Linux was an "undisclosed balance-sheet liability" and we know how Steve deals with them.
In other words it is only a matter of time before Vole starts chasing Linux users who are not using Suse.
Ballmer said that other Linux outfits were welcome to join in the Novosoft deal. This would have the advantage that they would not be sued into a coma by Volish briefs, but mean that they would have to work out a way to pay Vole. µ
L'INQ
Linux World (http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;839593139;fp;2;fpid;1)

does anyone other than 'zines listen to ballmer??? has he backed his claim up yet??? hell if he is right do you know how quick it would take linux users to head to BSD or Mac???

This man is way more dangerous than Bill himself ! $Money$ makes him paranoid !

Linux users to Microsoft: What 'balance sheet liability'?

'I took great offense to Ballmer's comments,' says one CIO


November 21, 2006 (Computerworld) (http://www.noobsters.com/forum/redirector.php?url=%68%74%74%70%3a%2f%2f%77%77%77% 2e%63%6f%6d%70%75%74%65%72%77%6f%72%6c%64%2e%63%6f %6d%2f) -- While Microsoft Corp. may cast the Nov. 2 patent cooperation agreement it pushed on new partner Novell Inc. as a way to protect corporate users of the SUSE Linux operating system from potential lawsuits, CIOs today said they weren't worried in the first place.

"I do not believe that my company has an "undisclosed balance sheet liability," Russ Donnan, CIO at business information provider Kroll Factual Data, said in an e-mail response to questions from Computerworld about the Microsoft deal. Loveland, Colo.-based Kroll Factual Data, which provides credit reports and other business information services, currently uses both Windows and Red Hat Linux on servers in its data centers. Donnan plans to switch the Red Hat servers to Windows for ease of management, but said the shift has nothing to do with any concerns about legal issues involving Linux.

After keeping mum about Microsoft and Novell's tie-up, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer openly declared last week (http://www.noobsters.com/forum/redirector.php?url=%68%74%74%70%3a%2f%2f%77%77%77% 2e%63%6f%6d%70%75%74%65%72%77%6f%72%6c%64%2e%63%6f %6d%2faction/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005171) that he believes the Linux source code infringes upon Microsoft's intellectual property (IP). And companies that use Linux, apart from Novell's SUSE distribution, face a latent financial time bomb that he called an "undisclosed balance sheet liability."

Yesterday, the two companies released separate statements (http://www.noobsters.com/forum/redirector.php?url=%68%74%74%70%3a%2f%2f%77%77%77% 2e%63%6f%6d%70%75%74%65%72%77%6f%72%6c%64%2e%63%6f %6d%2faction/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005258), with Microsoft softening but still standing by Ballmer's comments even as Novell's CEO Ron Hovsepian disavowed them.

Donnan, who described himself as "not a huge fan of software patents," said "the threat of such a 'liability' would not in any way influence" whether Kroll would stick with Red Hat or move to SUSE or even Windows. "Steve Ballmer is posturing for mind share to enterprise executives, knowing it will have little to no impact on IT executives," he said.

Barry Strasnick, CIO at North Quincy, Mass., financial services provider CitiStreet LLC, was even more emphatic.

"Like many IT executives, I took great offense to Ballmer's comments," Strasnick wrote in an e-mail. CitiStreet uses Red Hat Linux widely in its data centers. "If Microsoft really thinks there is some code in Linux that violates their patents, they should publish those lines of codes immediately instead of just posturing in the press. [Fear, uncertainty and doubt] may have worked for IBM in the 1970s (some of us are old enough to have been around then), but not today."



source (http://www.noobsters.com/forum/redirector.php?url=%68%74%74%70%3a%2f%2f%77%77%77% 2e%63%6f%6d%70%75%74%65%72%77%6f%72%6c%64%2e%63%6f %6d%2faction/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005338&source=rss_topic89)

So... code can be "owned"... that is so sad...

Oh, how much money I could have made if I could've gotten the rights to, "Hello world"...