off:patent deals ?

[Tony]

Rick wrote:
> this is getting way out of hand,
> "Linspire has signed a patent deal with Microsoft"
>
> Because, they are afraid of MS 234 patent claims in linux.
> MS has sign up 9 or 10 companies as of now, with this kind of tactic.
>
> When is the Linux community going to stand up, and slap them down,
> where they belong, because, if "WE" (linux) don't MS will have
> a couple of dozen companies, under there patent don't sue us agreement,
> Then they will file a law suit aginst, the other distro's
>
> Ayone?
> Richard
>
>   
Hmm?

Linspire will work with Novell and Microsoft to develop open-source 
"translators" that allow Open Office and Microsoft Office users to share 
documents more easily. The company has also licensed Microsoft's RT 
audio codec to make its Pidgin IM (instant messaging) client 
interoperable with Windows Live Messenger and other Microsoft products.


And then this ..

 As part of the deal, Linspire also pledged to add support for Windows 
Media 10 in future releases of its Linux OS distribution. The company 
also agreed to make Windows Live Search the default search engine in 
Linspire 5.0.

I don't really now what to think of this but does this presume that MS 
wants there crappy apps on Unix/Linux?

Tony D