10.21.07
Another Indirect Link is Found Between Microsoft and Acacia (Patent Troll That Attacks Linux) (Updated)
“It turns out that BayStar was one of the investors in Acacia Research”Remember BayStar? That company is the probably most major link between Microsoft and SCO. As you are aware, SCO’s lawsuits against Linux (vendors/users) began in 2003 and an E-mail that we have just receives reveals the following nugget of information.
It turns out that BayStar was one of the investors in Acacia Research, which is also believed to be associated with Microsoft [1, 2, 3]. We truly dislike proprietary Microsoft formats, but the following is embedded in a PowerPoint presentation [PPT].
Among BayStar portfolio companies, you’ll find:
Acacia Research (CombiMatrix) CBMX 20-May-03 50% warrant coverage at $2.75 strike price Biopharm
We’ve been told that it might be worth waiting until we discover a little more. This is a good start nonetheless, and it is a very intriguing financial connection.
Update: a few hours later, Groklaw published some more details about this connection (we shared the same anonymous source, but this site reported the findings first). PJ found a PDF version, so the PowerPoint version is obsolete now.
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.
Doug said,
October 21, 2007 at 11:39 am
How to Make a Patent Market
“Imagine a stock market in which buyers and sellers couldn’t find out the prices at which anyone else sold a share of stock .. Patents, however, exist in just such a blind market”