One man believes that attempts are made to create a civil war, so to speak.

Mr. Auvil, on the other hand, said Microsoft could have something more ominous than litigation in mind: It might be trying to further fragment the open source community, which is already split between companies that want to make money off free-code-based software and proponents with the philosophical belief in free software for all.

We wish to dismiss this by arguing that everyone would lose if Free software involved paying money to companies which do not actually own the software.

The closer you look at this scenario, the more insane Microsoft's actions begin to seem. The company is willing to accept alienation and hate, as if it hasn't suffered from this already, due to its shady history. Not many customer will quietly tolerate this (c/f the Microsoft prisoner mentality).

The following bit of analysis explains why Microsoft does not just aggravate big giants whom it competes against. Microsoft is eliminating the equivalent of mom-and-pop stores. It is now willing to stomp on the little guy, as well. Developers, whom Microsoft depended on the most over the years, will continue the stampete to the open source world. Why on earth would Microsoft send a offending message to start-ups by flaunting patent portfolios and actually making use of them?

Microsoft's patent hard line hardest on startups

[...]

The infringement claims are an indication of Microsoft's declining position in the software industry, Lyman said. "It tells me that Redmond is now officially afraid of open source and the negative revenue impact it is having upon Microsoft as a corporation," he said.

[...]

The infringement claims are an indication of Microsoft's declining position in the software industry, Lyman said. "It tells me that Redmond is now officially afraid of open source and the negative revenue impact it is having upon Microsoft as a corporation," he said.

Microsoft has apparently just shot itself in the toes. In the future, when it continues to lose more of its most loyal followers and supporters, other platforms will become exceptionally attractive. No longer will they enjoy the "network effect" and be able to depend on lockin (good example from yesterday's news). The company has isolated itself from many of its own customers. To an extent, the same applies to Novell.