Microsoft is claiming that open source software violates 235 patents that it holds. The article claims that Microsoft is seeking royalties from end users of open source software, but I suspect that what Microsoft really wants is to discourage people from adopting open source software entirely. I don’t think that will work.
Everybody knows that SCO has been a stalking horse for Microsoft in its lawsuit against IBM, and that case hasn’t had any appreciable effect on the market for Linux or other open source tools. Now Microsoft is taking the direct approach to shaking down users of open source software.
The patent article is worth reading, just to catch up on the legal machinations both Microsoft and the Free Software Foundation have employed to try to gain an advantage in this dispute.