Microsoft menaced by open source

The company complained in its annual report that it was facing increasing pressure from open source companies. It claims they are stealing its ideas and benefiting from its intellectual property.

"A number of commercial firms compete with us using an open source business model by modifying and then distributing open source software to end users at nominal cost and earning revenue on complementary services and products," the statement proclaimed.

"These firms do not bear the full costs of research and development for the software. Some of these firms may build upon Microsoft ideas that we provide to them free or at low royalties in connection with our interoperability initiatives."

Microsoft's statement continues: "To the extent open source software gains increasing market acceptance, our sales, revenue and operating margins may decline."

It claimed the the open source community is harming the software giant's bottom line by copying all its applications and selling them at a lower price.

theinquirer.net (c) 2010 Incisive Media

bymicrosoftopensoftwaresource