Microsoft and their Battle with FOSS

Microsoft and Their Legal Battles with Free and Open Source (FOSS)

In 2006, Microsoft mounted a major offensive against open source software providers, claiming copyright infringement of 235 different patents. Later in the year, Microsoft entered into an agreement with Novell to ensure both would avert costly litigation over open source patents. Microsoft believed that they would quickly attain legal victory over the Free and Open Source (FOSS) patents given the depth and breadth of legal talent and precedents they had in their favor (McGhee, 2007). In reality this litigation only served to galvanize the open source community, creating a powerful catalyst for competing against Microsoft and what many viewed as monopolistic behavior (Miller, Voas, Costello, 2010).

The key questions surrounding the exponential growth of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) platform is explored in this analysis.

Why FOSS Continues To Proliferate

There...
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