aseigo on new MS/Novell deal

http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2008/08/microsoft-and-novell-reaffirm-pact.html

aseigo has some comments on MS's new deal with Novell to buy more Linux support coupons. I have to agree with him. One thing that has bothered me with MS's activites is their nebulous claims about their IP that's supposedly infringed upon by Linux. My first reaction is "I'm from Missouri. Show me.". Exactly what intellectual property does Microsoft claim to own that's being infringed upon, and exactly what in a Linux distribution infringes upon it and how? Lay it out and let's get it resolved. And yet Microsoft won't do that. They play coy, dodging around saying exactly what it is they're accusing Linux of. And my immediate reaction to that is to think that they really don't have any claim that'll stand up to public scrutiny, that if they had to actually lay it out all they'd end up with is "We got nuthin'.". And that makes me immediately suspicious of any deal that supports them in this. When someone's running a scam (which is what a false claim to get others to pay you is, a scam), there's only two kinds of people doing business with them: marks, and accomplices. I probably want to avoid both.