Microsoft’s Mafia Approach to Linux!

So, you are a Linux user. You have declared yourself totally free of Microsoft! No longer will you be making Bill Gates the richest man in the world! You are smug, you are happy… and then, the Microsoft “enforcer” comes by and says, “Hey, bub, if ya don’t wanna get hurt, ya gotta pay us protection money, kapish?” Yep. That’s what M$ has decided to do… the first step was to announce that Open Source was in violation of M$’s intellectual property, then they bullied Linux vendors (starting with Xandros) into coming into an “agreement” with them to issue so called “patent covenants” to Xandros users “protecting” them from possible lawsuits by M$. We knew M$ was evil. Now, we see that they are in the protection racket!

Microsoft’s Protection Racket?

“Microsoft should have admitted that Linux matters sooner. For years, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant seemed to be in denial as the open-source operating software made gains against its Windows franchise. But now a series of deals is finally allowing Microsoft to argue that it’s ahead of the curve–with the entertaining upside of making some of the open-source community’s truest believers even angrier. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT – news – people ) announced a pact with Linux software distributor Xandros Monday that will the offer tiny company’s customers so-called ‘patent covenants,’ protecting them from the threat of litigation from Microsoft.”

What should our response be to this craziness? Don’t buy Xandros. Simple. Don’t support those companies that knuckle under to Microsoft’s evil practices. Money talks.