Company News: Microsoft says open-source software infringes on 235 patents
Microsoft Corp. cranked up the rhetoric against open-source software with new details about the ways it says free programs violate its patents.
While the world’s largest software company said it prefers licensing deals to legal action, it also indicated it won’t ignore what it sees as infringement.
“There is no reason why any segment of the industry needs to be exempt from intellectual property rules,” said Horacio Gutierrez, a Microsoft vice president for intellectual property and licensing.
At the most basic level, open-source software is built by a community of companies and independent programmers. It’s distributed, often without charge, to businesses and consumers and programmers to modify, build on, and distribute again — also for free.
While proprietary software companies like Microsoft make money by selling licenses for programs, open-source companies usually make money selling support services.
Microsoft said open-source programs step on 235 Microsoft patents. The core of the free Linux operating system violates 42 patents
“Seeking to reverse a financial tailspin, Motorola Inc. is revamping the Razr cell phone that has defined the company’s rise and fall of the past few years.
The Razr 2 was unveiled Tuesday with a number of upgrades to other top-line handsets. Executives stressed that the best path to success was to add features and improve performance with more robust software and hardware within an already stylish device.
The user interface, an attribute often criticized with the original Razr, has been completely redesigned for easier access to the assorted multimedia functions.
“FedEx Express is working with Azure Dynamics Corp. to develop a hybrid-electric power train for delivery vehicles, the shipping company said Tuesday.
Azure Dynamics will supply a parallel hybrid-electric test vehicle to FedEx Express for a development program using the Ford E-450 commercial delivery van, FedEx said.
“Business software maker Oracle Corp. added yet another acquisition to its bulging shopping basket Tuesday with a $495 million deal to buy Agile Software Corp.
After the latest all-cash purchase closes in July, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle will have spent more than $25 billion snapping up smaller software makers since 2004 in an audacious challenge to Germany’s SAP AG, the leading provider of business applications used to automate a wide range of administrative tasks.