Caught a Tiger by the Tail, Mr. Ballmer?

Last November I wrote about an article concerning the Microsoft/Novell Pact, where Inter-operability was supposedly the aim of both companies. I also said that only the future would disclose the truth of the matter. Well, the truth is out and it ain't pretty!

Over the past few months, Mr. Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) made a series of claims to the effect that Linux was infringing on Microsoft's Intellectual Property and that certain monies were owed to compensate Microsoft for that infringement. The Linux community has responded to those charges with an Open Letter To Steven Ballmer that can be found here.

I won't cloud the issue by remarking on the content of the site, except to say that I agree wholeheartedly. Of special note are included responses from RedHat, Linspire, and even Novel making very clear their positions on the subject.

For those that don't know, RedHat is a long time producer of Linux distributions for desktop and server systems and Fedora Core, which replaced RedHat Desktop Linux a few years ago. Linspire (and Freespire) are Desktop Linux distributions, and Novell produces the SUSE line of Linux OSs for desktop and servers. Links for their responses are located in the left-hand side bar.

I think it can be said the whole situation has been slightly illuminated. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if Steve Ballmer recognizes that if you have one end of a tiger's tail, there's a tiger on the other end! I don't believe for a moment that this is the end of the story, so stay tuned. It is going to be interesting!