Put up or shut up, Microsoft (Larry Augustin)

Microsoft’s recent maneuvering over open source has Larry Augustin’s ire, too. I wonder if Microsoft cares about all the ill will its hollow sabre rattling does. Larry advises a range of open source companies and he has been encouraging them to partner with Microsoft for interoperability purposes. I have been doing the same.

But now I feel like Microsoft does not care in the least about bringing open source into its ecosystem. Instead, it wants to kill open source through whisper campaigns about open source and the alleged bad faith that goes into developing it.

I take offense at the notion that anyone in the Open Source world is willfully violating a Microsoft patent, particularly since Microsoft refuses to disclose any potential violations:

“Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they’re being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them.”

Gutierrez and Microsoft aren’t interested in intellectual property rights. They’re not interested in allowing the Open Source world to defend itself. They’re not interested in a fair fight. Like a bully, they refuse to face the Open Source world in a fair fight, instead hinting at willful infringement and making backhanded threats. Why? Like any bully they fear that when faced with a fair fight in the light of day they will be revealed for the bully they are. Like any bully they fear that which they threaten.

This latest round of verbal insults has left me feeling foolish that I gave the company the benefit of the doubt. Fool me once, shame on me….

Microsoft keeps demanding that the world pay it for its patents. But it steadfastly refuses to actually show any substance for the patents.

And so we’re left with chimera. It’s hard to get excited about paying Microsoft’s poll tax when Microsoft refuses to substantiate its claims.