Posted on Thursday, October 18 2007 @ 5:45 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Michael Dell told the press at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando last week that claims from Microsoft that Linux violates its software patents have no affect on the uptake of Linux. Dell says Linux sales are increasing faster than Windows server products:
"On the server side Linux continues to grow nicely, a bit faster than Windows," said Dell. "We're seeing a move to Linux in critical applications, and Linux migration has not slowed down."
However, for those customers who might be concerned about whether Microsoft's claims of patent violation could result in legal action, the Dell chief added that there were "certainly mechanisms if customers are concerned about patents".
In May Microsoft claimed that free and open-source software violated more than 230 of its patents, but hasn't provided more much detailed information following the statement.
Dell's chief marketing officer, Mark Jarvis, claimed that although the two vendors have had a close relationship in the past, Microsoft had not given Dell any more information about the issue of patent infringement, despite Dell supporting Linux on its server range and more recently on its desktops and notebooks.
Source: ZD Net
