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http://tinyurl.com/u3uub

Could Microsoft products be in violation of some of the patents that
cover Linux and open-source technologies, as many in the community
believe?

Microsoft is not admitting to any such thing, but it is also not
ruling out the possibility that Windows may have infringed on patents
held by Novell and others in the open-source community.

There has been so much controversy about the deal and its implications
that Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian released an open letter to the community
Nov. 20 in which he rejected the notion that its recent agreement with
Microsoft acknowledges that Linux infringes on the Redmond,
Wash.-based software maker's intellectual property.

. . . .

GraB wrote:
> http://tinyurl.com/u3uub
>
> Could Microsoft products be in violation of some of the patents that
> cover Linux and open-source technologies, as many in the community
> believe?
>
Very probably - and copyright infringements.

The problem with closed source it is difficult to look for violations,
whereas with open source the code is available for all to see.