10.04.07
Microsoft’s ‘Mafia Techniques’ Come Under Fire
Have a look at this new article from vnunet.com. The president of the Open Source Consortium hits Microsoft right where it hurts by calling Microsoft’s tactics what they are:
“This has been the strategy against open source all along. It’s precisely the same tactics as SCO used: implied threats and mafia techniques. This is just FUD. It’s smoke and mirrors. ”
Equally damning terms were also articulated by Mark Shuttleworth, who called it racketeering and extortion, which are of course illegal acts. We at BoycottNovell admire these people’s courage to put their name and reputation into this by stating the facts.
By all means remember that Microsoft escapes every opportunity it gets using every excuse available not to disclose specific details about its claim. It wasn’t long ago that Microsoft blamed paperwork for having no inclination to provide details. Wouldn’t you sympathise? Legal paperwork costs a lot of money. It would be pricey to produce evidence and Microsoft is truly on a ‘tight budget’, right?
This type of filthy behavior by Microsoft speaks volumes. A patent system assumes that those who rely on it are gentlemen, not so-called ‘patent terrorists‘.
Image from Wikimedia
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.