Linux is flourishing at Windows' expense, both on the client and on the server side. At least this is the perspective that Microsoft is getting across. The Redmond company has taken a consistent amount of jabs at the free and open source software offerings and the developers, distributors and users behind such solutions, but the bottom line is Microsoft expects nothing less than a "fair" share of the profit. While Linux has been slowly prospering not only on the server but also on the desktop market, sweeping chunks of market share right from under Windows, Microsoft came out gunning.

In May, 2007, General Counsel Brad Smith and Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing Horacio Gutierrez voiced Microsoft's concerns that free and open-source software (OSS) infringed on no less than 235 of the company's patents. In this context, the free and open source solutions are intimately connected with Microsoft via the patents regime, and as such, producing, distributing or using the technology is equivalent with infringing on the Redmond company's intellectual property.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer took the latest swing at Linux, opining that as far as he was concerned, all Red Hat customers owed the Redmond company money for the open source solutions they were using. The claim was mainly directed at Red Hat, aiming to force the company into a corner and into an agreement similar to that inked between Microsoft and Novell. Ever since November 2006, Microsoft is offering Novell customers intellectual property assurance... for the right money, making free open source software, less free.

Still, according to Michael Dell, Dell's chief executive, Microsoft's claims of patent infringement directed at Linux - 42 for the kernel and 65 for the graphical user interface - have not impacted the adoption of the open source operating system. Dell revealed that its sales of Linux-based hardware were not only not affected, but actually continuing to grow faster than Windows, as cited by ZDNet. The corporate environment is still driving the adoption of the open source operating system, according to Dell. Mark Jarvis chief marketing officer with Dell, revealed that Microsoft failed to disclose the actual patents that free and open source solutions were infringing on.