Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Latest Attack Plan on GNU/Linux Has Become Clearer and It's Still About Software Patents

Whereas in Munich, Microsoft's allies from Accenture continue to game the media with claims (years in the making now, always in vain) that GNU/Linux is a "failure"

"I've heard from Novell sales representatives that Microsoft sales executives have started calling the Suse Linux Enterprise Server coupons "royalty payments"..."

--Matt Asay, formerly Novell



Summary: Microsoft's so-called 'love' of GNU/Linux is conditional; Microsoft is willing to just tolerate GNU/Linux and not sue its users/distributors to death (or hefty settlement) as long as they pay Microsoft some royalties

AFTER a bunch of days without a single article (two of my laptops broke down, the connection went bust and other serious issues came up in the course of just 48 hours!) I can finally catch up with a lot of news which I was eager to write about. One might joke that for the past few days I've experienced the stress levels of EPO employees.



"The marketing/slogan was similar 10 years ago and we are beginning to see what Microsoft was plotting with this whole Azure "Microsoft loves [GNU/]Linux" façade."Last week's most popular article was this one about Microsoft's latest PR twist -- a claim that balkanisation of Free/Libre Open Source software ("safe" and "unsafe") is somehow benign and even desirable. A lot of the corporate press played along [1, 2] (Googlebombing "microsoft troll" as we noted here before). The latter, for example, is a highly misleading headline ("10,000 Microsoft patents free of charge") because they pay Microsoft, otherwise Microsoft's trolls can go after them. Notice the name of the programme, "IP Advantage". If it sounds familiar, it should; these are same words that were used back in the Novell days. There was even a domain named along those likes. The marketing/slogan was similar 10 years ago and we are beginning to see what Microsoft was plotting with this whole Azure "Microsoft loves [GNU/]Linux" façade. It's not too hard to see what really happens here and it's probably not a coincidence or a side-effect but something that Microsoft's strategists came up with. This is how they try to leverage software patents to 'milk' Free software.

"No other company pushes the envelope on IP value creation quite like Microsoft," said Microsoft's friends at IAM. "Yesterday the software giant was at it again with the announcement of a new level of patent protection for its cloud business through the launch of the Microsoft Azure IP Advantage programme."

"So Microsoft is now looking for new ways to tax, using patents, the technology which is taking over (and isn't Microsoft's)."Watch how these mesmorised writers from IAM spin Microsoft's passive-aggressive patent tactics. These tactics show that Microsoft has not changed. Only the marketing got tweaked a little. To quote more: "Microsoft’s recent value creation drive comes at a time when one of its traditionally strong IP areas — licensing fees — are on the decline; thanks, in large part, to a slumping smartphone market."

So Microsoft is now looking for new ways to tax, using patents, the technology which is taking over (and isn't Microsoft's). Michael Loney too missed/lost sight of the Microsoft plot. He acts like a courier of Microsoft. "In an interview," he wrote, "Erich Andersen explains Microsoft’s new programme to protect customers against IP litigation related to cloud computing, including making 10,000 patents available and pledging to Azure customers that if it transfers patents to non-practising entities they cannot be asserted against them" (like those entities that are operated by or are connected to Microsoft).

Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer after his promotion (showing increased focus on patents, not products, a couple of years ago), is promoting "Microsoft Azure IP Advantage programme," but let it be clear that this is just the latest Microsoft assault on GNU/Linux and Free software. Anyone who believes otherwise is just refusing to see the obvious; or maybe we just failed to explain this clearly enough last week. We expect to say more about it in the near and distant future. Wait for trolls like Intellectual Ventures to go after hosts (or their customers) that are not Microsoft-'protected'.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
massive layoffs at Microsoft
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 30, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 30, 2025
People at the Very Top of Microsoft Know How Bad Things Really Are
There's no product that can replace the former profitability of Windows licensing and stuff that went on top of Windows
Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Mid Year and a Tour of Old Languages
Links for the day
EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
Links for the day
Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
Intel Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce, Microsoft is Doing the Same This Year
Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
GNU/Linux Rises to New Highs in Angola, Africa in General is Abandoning Windows
Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
GNU/Linux Growing in Sierra Leone This Year
Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
Links for the day
Our Desktops Are Not Your Experiments, X is Not an Experiment
Breaking what already worked
Microsoft's Big Lies Regarding This Week's Mass Layoffs Have Already Begun (and They're Already Being Spread by Slopfarms)
Microsoft is the "market leader" in slop
Explaining the Full Story of SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff
For every action there is a reaction, for every attack there will be proportionate consequences
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part III: IRS and Status of OSI
"They lied to the US IRS and there’s a paper trail"
IBM Red Hat's Dogmatic Fanaticism Under a Thin Veil of "Modernism"
IBM now has the audacity to paint people who don't agree as "nazis"
Microsoft's Share in Guatemala Fell From 97% to 14%
Eventually Microsoft will get stuck in a loop of layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs
They Made Technology Scary and Taught Us That It's Innocent, Friendly, Even "Social"
Rejection of all this "apps" and "gadgets" and "Smart" (whatever that means!) status quo isn't a rejection of society
The Media is Under Attacks Partly Because There's Little Other (Remaining) Press to Speak in Its Defence
The biggest danger here is that when there's very little press or no "opposition media" left it becomes even easier to crush critics because there aren't many people left to speak about the matter
If Your Web Site is Run by Bots, Eventually Nobody Will 'Read' It Except Bots (People Don't Want to Read Slop)
Eventually people learn from mistakes
Links 29/06/2025: Microsoft Releases False/Fake Benchmarks, "Google Wants You to Watch Ads or Take Surveys to Read Articles"
Links for the day
Links 29/06/2025: Data Breaches and Online Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/06/2025: "The Price Of Eggs" and Gemini 3D Tic Tac Toe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 28, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 28, 2025