MICROSOFT HAS already managed to use its extortion racket [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] to make money from Android in quite a few companies (HTC, Samsung, Kyocera Mita, and LG). This morning we wrote that GNU/Linux proponents must defend against such 'Microsoft tax' in order for Linux to remain a competitive platform based on price. Linux mustn't become Microsoft's new cash cow.

The license also specified that iPhone applications must be originally written in C, C++, JavaScript or Objective-C. That left tools (including Novell's MonoTouch, which brings .NET development to the iPhone, as well as Unity's Unity 3D game authoring tool) in a state of uncertainty.

“How soon will Linux stop working with ARM and when will MS claim their patented Intellectual Property is in Linux running on ARM?”
      --Anonymous readerThe article says that a "spokeswoman for Microsoft in the U.K. said the software giant might contribute ideas and technology to the "ARM ecosystem" but declined to say what Microsoft might do with the license" and "With closer access to the ARM technology we will be able to enhance our research and development activities for ARM-based products," says another part. One reader of ours has asked, "How soon will Linux stop working with ARM and when will MS claim their patented Intellectual Property is in Linux running on ARM?"

Linux is gaining and gaining on ARM and Microsoft wants to either monetise or replace Linux on ARM. Watch the enthusiasm of Microsoft Jack (Schofield). To Microsoft, this is a cornerstone in the fight against Linux.

It ought to be added that HP announced that it would sell tablets with the Linux-based webOS and shortly afterwards it hired a 20-year Microsoft senior to become its vice president in charge of software and solutions business. Weeks later HP changed its mind about those tablets which run Linux and currently it's not known why HP changed its mind.

It would be so much easier if Microsoft just went out of business or shrank a lot faster (there are more layoffs at the moment [1, 2]). More on that in the next quick post. ⬆