Microsoft Continues to Hoard Patents While Using Them Against GNU/Linux

On June 19, 2014 the United States Supreme Court ruled in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International that "merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform [an] abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention." [5][6][7] The ruling continued:

[...] the mere recitation of a generic computer cannot transform a patent-ineligible abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention. Stating an abstract idea “while adding the words ‘apply it’” is not enough for patent eligibility.[] Nor is limiting the use of an abstract idea “‘to a particular technological environment.’”[]. Stating an abstract idea while adding the words “apply it with a computer” simply combines those two steps, with the same deficient result. Thus, if a patent’s recitation of a computer amounts to a mere instruction to“implemen[t]” an abstract idea “on . . . a computer,” [] that addition cannot impart patent eligibility.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patents_under_United_...

Any time you do business with Microsoft, or any of the Business Software Alliance companies (the BSA lobbies for software patents), you fund this behaviour. Don't let their occasional contributions to open-source fool you - they want to take your money, and restrict your actions.