Microsoft, Patents and Transparency

As everyone now knows Microsoft has claimed through a Fortune magazine article that open source projects have violated 235 of Microsoft’s patents. That is 235 out of 6723 patents where Microsoft is the assignee according to the US Patent Office and Microsoft is not saying which ones they are. The onus is on open source to figure out which ones Microsoft means and to come clean. Microsoft is not being transparent on what claims they believe they have because they probably feel it is not in their interests to be transparent.The blogosphere has written much about the fear, uncertainty and doubt that Microsoft intends to make with this lack of disclosure. Microsoft’s intention seems to be to create FUD not in open source, but in customers. Recent history suggests this may not be a wise move. Firstly, open source’s customers are Microsoft’s customers and it generally is not good business to scare your customers. Secondly, these days you cannot avoid transparency.

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