Editors' Picks: Is Linux at risk from a Microsoft patent blitz?

Forget the SCO Group. Consider the possibility of Microsoft using its arsenal of patents to curb the open-source software.

Aug. 5, 2004 6:31 a.m. PT

5 min read

Editors' Picks

Is Linux at risk from a Microsoft patent blitz?

Editors' picks

Forget the SCO Group. Consider the possibility of Microsoft using its rapidly growing arsenal of patents to curb Linux.

Open-source advocates have long warned that lax patent oversight could eventually pose a major problem for the technology.

Now some believe that their fears are about to become reality. Is the threat genuine or merely hyped? Tell us what you think.
August 4, 2004

The evidence

Bill Gates

According to a study this week, Linux potentially infringes 283 patents, including 27 held by Microsoft. The study comes shortly after the revelation of a 2-year-old HP memo asserting that "Microsoft will soon be launching a patent-based legal offensive against Linux and other free software projects."

eWeek Linux Companies Address IP Concerns
InfoWorld Munich's Linux roll-out halted
CNET News.com Group: Linux potentially infringes 283 patents
NewsForge HP memo forecasts MS patent attacks on free software
The Public Patent Foundation PUBPAT Announces Microsoft Patent Watch
Open Source Risk Management Mitigating Linux Patent Risk (PDF file)
CNET News.com Gates wants patent power
Microsoft Intellectual Property Licensing

Rise of Linux

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds launched Linux as a student project nearly 13 years ago, and by the late-1990s, the software had attracted support from the computing industry. Now Linux is a staple of the information technology diet and a component of computing companies' strategies to get an edge over their competitors.

CNET News.com HP offers Linux-based laptop
CNET News.com Linux fervor on display at trade show
TechTarget Linux jobs on the rise, so do your homework
Sun Microsystems' Jonathan Schwartz IBM is in a Pickle (Again)
Internetnews.com Hidden Costs Said to Stymie Linux Growth
InfoWorld Gartner: Rapid Linux growth boosts server market
TechWeb Ballmer: Linux Is Top Threat To Windows

Other threats

Darl McBride

Copyright claims by the SCO Group face an increasingly skeptical audience among legal experts. But there are bigger challenges. Linux users face a host of issues that may ultimately hurt adoption, and create legal liability.

InfoWorld SCO CEO: No need to sue more customers
CNET News.com Linux, digital rights on collision course
Ecommerce Times Red Hat Refocuses Sales Model
Microsoft Watch Microsoft Hints of Future Programs to Stave Off Linux Overseas

Open source and patents

Beyond Microsoft and Linux, open-source programmers everywhere face complications from patents, both valid and invalid. Flaws in the patent system in the United States and elsewhere are blamed for inflating the value of worthless patents, undermining open-source efforts across the board.

The Register Patents and the threat to open source
CNET News.com Will patents pillage open source?
NewsForge Patents in an open source world
The Inquirer IBM patents method for paying open source volunteers
CNET News.com IBM pledges no patent attacks against Linux
Salon Patents are your friends
Bruce Perens An open-source call to arms

Audio and Video

LinuxWorld 2004 conference attendees sound off
As Linux makes its move in the big-business arena, the open-source community faces growing pains. Correspondent James Hilliard asks conference-goers at LinuxWorld 2004 in San Francisco for their thoughts on the transition and how it is affecting the development of the open-source landscape.

Preview: LinuxWorld 2004
News.com's Stephen Shankland sits down with correspondent James Hilliard to look at some of the issues and news expected at this year's LinuxWorld gathering in San Francisco.

Global open-source community continues to thrive
At LinuxWorld 2004 in San Francisco, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik looks at the challenges Linux has faced over the last 10 years and the progress it's made, announces new Red Hat application server software for running Java programs, and calls for reform of intellectual-property law in the United States.

Solaris better than Linux?
Sun Microsystems' new executive vice president of software, John Loiacono, embraces Linux but has more love for Solaris. Hear what he has to say about both operating systems and how they are living together at Sun.

Szulik says Red Hat won't abuse its clout
As developers gather for LinuxWorld, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik sits down for a Face to Face interview with ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber and CNET News.com reporter Stephen Shankland. Szulik denies that Red Hat's aim is to be the Microsoft of open source--whose community, he says, is alive and well.

Time to think differently about open source?
During his keynote address to the O'Reilly Open Source Convention 2004, media maven Tim O'Reilly discussed some of the top issues shaping open-source development. He noted a paradigm shift taking place and said the community needs to shift its approach and thoughts about what open source truly is.

Ballmer questions open-source code security
At Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer disputes the idea that open-source code is easier to secure than that of Windows.

SuSE's Seibt: "It's getting hot now"
In an exclusive Face to Face interview with ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber, SuSE Linux chief Richard Seibt talks about the impact of SCO's legal maneuvering, competition with Microsoft and the two-horse race with Red Hat to blaze the open-source trail from servers to desktops.