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Microsoft and Their Legal Battles with Free and Open Source (FOSS)
Microsoft has always vigorously protected its patents and sought out legal defense against competing technologies and businesses that threatened its core business model. In 2006, Microsoft mounted a comprehensive and well-orchestrated attack on open software, alleging that 235 of their core patents had been infringed on and they were due damages from Novell and several other publishers of open source operating systems. Microsoft believed they would have a quick and decisive victory over the Free and Open Source (FOSS) community, establishing a very defensible legal precedent and being able to create a long-term barrier to their impact on the Microsoft business model (McGhee, 2007). This did not occur however, and at the close of 2006, Microsoft and Novell brokered an agreement that saved each millions of dollars in legal fees. What Microsoft had meant as an inhibitor...
Developers and distributors of FOSS operating systems and applications rallied around the decision and sought to make their standard pervasive throughout corporate America (Miller, Voas, Costello, 2010). FOSS, which had initially been viewed as not as secure or reliable as Microsoft proprietary software, chose as an industry to concentrate on the key criterion that corporate purchasers cared most about. This included heavy investments in auditability, security, stability and fault tolerance, in addition to application scalability (McGhee, 2007). This strategy worked and led to the development of FOSS as the new standard in many enterprises.
Analyzing the Proliferation of FOSS
When Microsoft began its legal assault on FOSS many industry and financial analysts predicted its demise and eventual re-licensing under…
References
McGhee, D.D. (2007). Free and open source software licenses: Benefits, risks, and steps toward ensuring compliance. Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, 19(11), 5-0_1.
Miller, K.W., Voas, J., & Costello, T. (2010). Free and open source software. IT Professional Magazine, 12(6), 14-16.
Wormser, D.A. (2010). Open-source software: The value of "free." Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal, 22(5), 22-0_1.
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