If Linux violates Microsoft's patents, let's see the proof

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said this week what Microsoft's head of Bill Hilf, Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, wouldn't (or couldn't) a couple of weeks ago: Microsoft believes Linux violates Microsoft patents.

(For the record, Novell execs recently denied that SuSE desktop and server Linux violated any Microsoft patents.)

So what does Ballmer know that Novell and others don't -- or won't admit? Some are saying Ballmer is doing nothing but trying to spread FUD -- to make non-Novell/SuSE customers worried that they might be targets of Microsoft lawsuits.

If there is offending code, I think Microsoft should show it and prove it. Why not set up a Web site with a few code snippets that show how Linux violates Windows patents -- if such snippets really exist?