Over the years, many stereotypes have developed which plagued open source and Linux. The recent attacks, which led to a stubborn (and vocal) defence, have made Free software stronger. A mountain of disinformation had erupted and soon emptied itself. The ZDNet community has more to say about this, but in relation to technical merits.

The objective is to show for all to see how lean and mean GNU/Linux is as compared to Windows, and demonstrate that they are so different that GNU/Linux cannot be infringing so many patents and behave so differently. It is impossible to describe such differences with words, so we need a great, visible show. I guess people would like to buy stuff there, and there would be less waste of time and money than in a courtroom.

Another concern some businesses have had relates to IP, but on the face of it, the Open Solutions Alliance has just taken action that will put many myths and fears to rest.

As part of its requirement for membership to the OSA, which launched in February to promote and develop interoperable open source solutions, Palamida is now offering to scan the interoperability-related code of OSA members for potential intellectual property (IP) and security issues.

This is encouraging indeed. To use some sarcasm, here is an item from Free Software Magazine which pokes fun at Microsoft's ownership mischiefs.

If we "stole" our operating systems from Microsoft, then how come we don't need to spend more than the GDP of many smaller countries, on advertising, that tries to brainwash the public into only "using" our operating systems?

It appears to have indeed ended up as a PR disaster to Microsoft. They bury themselves deeper in the quicksand as more and more customers begin to recognise the real motives.