[pchelpers] News:Microsoft steps up open-source challenge

Reuters | Wednesday, 16 May 2007

NEW YORK: Microsoft has made its broadest challenge to date against 
open-source software, including Windows rival Linux, claiming that such 
programs violate 235 Microsoft patents and saying it will seek license fees.

The world's largest software maker said that various open-source 
packages violate patents it holds in areas related to graphical user 
interface, email programmes and other technology.

"The real question is not whether there exist substantial patent 
infringement issues, but what to do about them," Horacio Gutierrez, 
Microsoft vice president of intellectual property and licensing, said in 
a statement.

Microsoft sent the statement to reporters via email, detailing a stance 
that it disclosed in an article that appeared in Fortune Magazine.

Linux is the most popular type of open-source software, or computer 
programmes that developers can download and modify as long as they share 
those changes with the public. The packages, which are often available 
for free, have gained in popularity over the past decade, taking market 
share away from Microsoft.

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