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Since our buddies at Redmond are apparently too busy and gentlemanly to name the patents that the bad guys behind Linux have apparently infringed; I’ve decided to help them… with your help of course!

With the assistance of our good friend Google’s amazing Patent Search; I found that Microsoft has exactly 600 patents listed there… surely some of the 235 patents that Linux allegedly infringes would be in that list. Now here’s how you could help:

• Link to or give the URL to a specific patent, and tell us which part/function of the Linux kernel; and/or any other open source application infringes that patent
• Discuss, argue and/or bicker over whether a patent infringement had actually occured
• Provide proof of prior art, if you think there is one
• Link to this post to give it the exposure it deserves (you know it does deserve more attention)

What are you waiting for?! Let’s get the ball rolling!

First, the monopoly from Redmond claims that Linux, my operating system of choice, infringes 235 Microsoft patents. Now they claim that they can’t give details because of administrative overheads:

Microsoft patents attorney Jim Markwith told OSBC it would be “impossible” for Redmond’s bureaucrats to respond to the volume of responses that would result form disclosure. Also, apparently, it’s ungentlemanly to name names.

If you make a claim which you can’t back up with facts, it’s called bullshit in my books.

Not only have Microsoft failed to show a single line of stolen Microsoft code in the Linux kernel, or even one Microsoft patent that was so-called infringed by the Linux community… it continues time and time again to engage in an IP terrorism campaign against the open source community.

Microsoft: 235 Patents Infringed By Linux, But We Can’t Even Name ONE. We’re Just Too Busy (With Our FUD Campaign)!

I’m a Firefox user 99.5% of the time. I also use Opera Mobile 0.3% of my web browsing time (on my mobile phone), and Internet Explorer is used for stupid sites which insist I use it (like the LHDN’s e-filing web site), which thankfully only takes 0.2% of my web browsing time.

However, although I’m not a Microsoft fan in any sense of the word, I’m quite pleased with IE7 in general. It has definitely improved on its predecessors weaknesses. The sad thing was it took way too long and those who have been hoping for a better IE had jumped ship by the time it was released.

Therefore, I’m pleased to find out that Microsoft has plans to implement interesting features in IE8. Why am I happy? Well, basically I’m just happy that the web browser is getting more attention from the biggest software company in the world. More importantly, it can definitely encourage competition in this field.

In the end, users of web browsers will benefit the most from advances in this field. We get better web experience and nicer toys to experiment with. And this is good enough for me

There will be no more pre-installed Windows XP computers by the end of the year as dictated by the Beast of Redmond. I guess this is no suprise since its desperately trying to pimp Vista to the masses and receiving a lot of resistance.

Quoting the linked APC magazine article:

By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.”

Despite Microsoft’s relentless promotion of Vista, manufacturers are still seeing plenty of demand from customers for systems preloaded with XP, especially in the finicky SOHO market.

The SOHO market has limited resources and needs to justify software updates beyond the “Because Microsoft said so” one that is enough for the average consumer market. Money put in a potentially needless OS upgrade that might even render their older data unusable and thus causes negative impact to business operations.

…and it’s not for monopolistic behaviour or anything very closely related to Microsoft; but for false advertising. Mind you, the advertisements are not for Windows Vista, but PCs which bear the “Windows Vista Capable” badge.

Quoting the scoop source by El-Reg:

The suit, Microsoft’s latest class action case but the first related to Windows Vista, comes amid claims that most business PCs also lack the hardware required to run most versions of Windows Vista.

Eighty per cent of PCs do not match Microsoft’s hardware requirements to upgrade, according to Everdream, a desktop management specialist. The biggest hurdle is lack of RAM: 70 per cent of machines lack the requisite 1GB, according to Everdream, which surveyed 140,000 desktop and laptop machines.

[...]

The suit claims many of the Windows Vista Capable machines are only capable of running Home Basic editions of Windows Vista and could not run the next edition, Home Premium, which featured most of the heavily advertised features.

That’s what you get by over-niching your products; something Microsoft seems to put way too much marketing effort on. Let’s see what we’ve gotten from the Redmond giant over the years:

• Windows 2000; Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server, Advanced Server Limited Edition and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Limited Edition
• Windows XP; Home, Professional, Media Center Edition and Tablet PC Edition
• Windows Server 2003; Small Business Server, Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, Compute Cluster Server, Storage Server and Home Server

For God’s sake, I hope that this lawsuit can put to death Microsoft’s trend to over-niche their OSs into stupid “editions”. I think their marketing team went overboard in identifying their market segments.