Microsoft licensing Linux | Linux Today

Microsoft licensing Linux

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Mar 17, 2010

“Proprietary giant is licensing open source to its partners.
What is going on?

“Over the past few weeks Microsoft has been licensing Linux to a
number of its partners, most notably Amazon. Although the idea of
Microsoft, a company steeped in proprietary software, licensing
open source software is ludicrous it’s not completely unexpected.
It’s also not the first time Microsoft has played the Linux patent
game and we can expect to see more deals in the future. So what’s
going on?

“Back in 2007 Microsoft stirred up the open source community by
claiming that Linux infringed on more than 200 of its patents.
Although the specific patents were never actually revealed it was
enough to stir emotions and kickstart a campaign in which Microsoft
planned to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt among corporate
users.”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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