02.10.08
The State of Software Patents in the US, Resistance in Europe
Wikimedia Commons has the following image in the public domain. It nicely illustrates the increasing complexity of software development, at least in the United States.

Regarding protests against software patents in Europe, Zoobab has added a video to YouTube. It is one which we did not include in the previous batch, so here it is. █




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.