Microsoft’s open source initiative, by some accounts, is making the company look really good; others remain skeptical. Tom Yager has another take altogether: It’s about little more than lawyers. “I wouldn’t touch code created by anyone who has come within whiffing distance of Microsoft’s published code, APIs, and protocols. How am I supposed to know whether someone’s going to sell the code derived from my code derived from Microsoft’s patented protocols?” Yager asks in Microsoft opens, just a little. That’s because the boilerplates include the phrase “licensed patents” which, of course, belong to Microsoft and the fine print says that the royalty-free and unfettered redistribution stuff doesn’t apply unless you’ve licensed the applicable patents that Microsoft has attached to it. “At the moment, I can’t imagine any conditions that would make me comfortable with using any of what Microsoft is publishing. I wouldn’t tack a piece of code onto this post, for fear that it might be covered by some far-removed patent.” Technology Industry