Microsoft Wants to 'Kill' Open Source

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But a new version of the GPL due in July could prohibit Linux distributors from entering such deals. The current draft of the license's third version would add restrictions against patent-protection deals like the one Microsoft entered with Novell. That could close avenues for those companies that include Linux in their products to make patent peace with Microsoft. The issues could come to the fore again when Eben Moglen, a Columbia University law professor and former chief counsel for the Free Software Foundation, which controls the GPL, gives a speech at an open-source software conference May 22 in San Francisco.

Bloggers Demand Details

On the blog front, the new revelations from Redmond sparked calls for the company to disclose just which of its patents it thinks Linux violates.

Ex-Microsoft employee Robert Scoble wrote in his Scobleizer blog that "Microsoft has more than 800 lawyers and it looks like they are going to make sure that they remain relevant through legal action." Its actions could affect Google (GOOG) and other companies that make heavy use of Linux, Scoble notes.

Larry Augustin, an angel investor and former CEO of onetime stock market superstar VA Linux, wrote in his Weblog that Microsoft is bullying other companies by making vague threats. "If Microsoft believes that free and open-source software violates any of their patents, let them put those patents forward now, in the light of day," he wrote.

Mary Jo Foley said in her ZDNet blog that Microsoft has "ended any illusion that it planned to try to build bridges with the open-source community." The company's decision to go public with the number of patents it thinks Linux violates "shows Microsoft must think the GPL v3 has teeth," she wrote.

And Matt Asay, vice-president of business development at Alfresco, a Britain-based open-source software company, wrote in InfoWorld's Open Sources blog that Microsoft "wants to kill open source through whisper campaigns." He added, "It's hard to get excited about paying Microsoft's poll tax when Microsoft refuses to substantiate its claims."

Ricadela is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in Silicon Valley.