A few days later there seems to be a general consensus around the web; A) Microsoft is using this threat as a marketing ploy to strike fear into the hearts of those thinking of switching from MS to any open source system, namely Linux and B) Everyone agrees it’s a foolish move.

I read Jonathan Schwartz’ blog entry on the subject and it definitely gives some perspective as to where the Microsoft beast is headed with their hard line, uncooperative attitude towards the Open Source Community and collaborative standards in general. Sun was faced with the same choice when they started losing to open source, and ultimately came to the conclusion; if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

At this point, Microsoft can still easily turn the ship around, but if they keep going the direction they are heading, it’s curtains.

** Update

back·fire -fired, -fir·ing, noun
to bring a result opposite to that which was planne or expected: The plot backfired.

Apparently the report quoted may just prove the opposite, Microsoft is more susceptable than Open Source when it comes to patent infringements. Read it here..

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