Linux Infringes Microsoft's Intellectual Property

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer accused the Linux operating system of infringing on Microsoft's intellectual property at the Professional Association for SQL Server conference. "We've had an issue, a problem that we've had to confront, which is because of the way the GPL (General Public License) works, and because open-source Linux does not come from a company -- Linux comes from the community -- the fact that that product uses our patented intellectual property is a problem for our shareholders. We spend $7 billion a year on R&D, our shareholders expect us to protect or license or get economic benefit from our patented innovations. So how do we somehow get the appropriate economic return for our patented innovation, and how do we do interoperability. The truth is, because of the complex licensing around the GPL, we actually didn't want to do one without the other," said Ballmer.

"� we want Suse Linux to have the highest percent share of that, because only a customer who has Suse Linux actually has paid properly for the use of intellectual property from Microsoft," added Ballmer.

The emphasized passages have generated a strong wave of criticism from the Linux community. Ballmer was trying to explain the Microsoft and Novell interoperability agreement at the start of November. The Microsoft Novell partnership focuses on Virtualization, Web services for managing physical and virtual servers and Document format capabilities for Windows and Linux solutions (SUSE Linux Enterprise). Ballmer also added that Microsoft is available for other similar agreements: "We are willing to do the same deal with Red Hat and other Linux distributors, it's not an exclusive thing."

Novell has denied that its Linux and open source offerings infringe on a Microsoft's patents and Red Hat share a similar perspective: "We do not believe there is a need or basis for the type of relationship defined in the Microsoft/Novell announcement," commented Mark Webbink, Red Hat deputy general counsel.

The image adjacent to this article features Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft and Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell.