OpenOffice.org: Microsoft must be desperate
OpenOffice.org has called Microsoft's assertion that its open-source application suite violates 45 of its patents "a desperate act". It's just hard to put into credible terms," said Louis Suarez-Potts, a community manager for OpenOffice.org and seven-year veteran of the all-volunteer group. "I don't understand what motivated Microsoft to risk so much with a position that can only serve to alienate [enterprise] customers, as well as those millions of people who use Linux."
In an interview with Fortune, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, spelled out the company's position. During the interview, Smith claimed that OpenOffice.org, the open-source alternative to Microsoft's own Office suite, violates nearly four dozen patents. Smith did not specify the patents Microsoft believes have been violated by the application collection; nor did a follow-up statement issued by a Microsoft spokesman.
