MX Linux Forum

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft ... portfolio/

By joining the Open Invention Network, Microsoft is offering its entire patent portfolio to all of the open-source patent consortium's members.

Wow, this is indeed huge.

Microsoft = Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish!

If they are planning to extinguish, their plan is most peculiar. Embrace and extend is, I believe, their rationale, as it is for every member of OIN. It is precisely the reason for opensource... to 'stand on the shoulders of giants' (or in this case build software off of/ with others' inventions).

Not all of their patents. They're keeping the Windows ones, and the ones they give to the trolls to attack Linux, etc. And the ones they are "opening" are only for other members of the OIN, which promotes software patents. This is still Microsoft.

I was confused by this. Microsoft announced that all 60K of its patents were pledged. Then I read that only those patents for their open source contributions were pledged (which would exclude proprietary code products like Windows). Then I read that the patents were confined to those products which involve Azure because they've run into business resistance from companies that do not want to be on closed source or patented frameworks and hence are staying with Amazon.

Are the patents on FAT32 and exFAT now open sourced? I don't think so.

Haha, as if they'd share all their patents. Pigs can't fly yet AFAIK.

Call me cautiously optimistic.
But this really makes me think they are planning on buying Ubuntu.

I see this as a strategic move By Microsoft. They likely needed unfettered access to some of the patents held by OIN and freeing up some of their own patents was likely far cheaper than a protracted court battle they knew they probably wouldn't win.

One thing for sure it is always about money and power. Microsoft has one thing in mind - Remaining #1 and keeping those Billions rolling in. I don't think there is much "share" in MS.