Re: Only Novell will get sued

Java is much older than .NET. It has now been released as GPLv2 and used as the foundation for a number of open-source projects including Hadoop, Android, Eclipse, etc. It's not a perfect language by any means-- but that's a whole other debate.

I think it's unfair to attack Java as "just as vulnerable as .NET." Any patents that bear on Java are almost certainly held by Oracle, who in general make a lot of money off of Linux and related technologies. They're not going to sue you for using Java because they *want* you to use Java.

On the other hand Microsoft (quite rationally) sees Linux as a threat to their stranglehold on the PC desktop. In general, Microsoft's strategy involves building interlocking pieces of infrastructure. If they can get you to use one or two pieces, they can usually force you to use the rest. Microsoft Visual Studio integrates well with Microsoft SQL Server, which works well with Microsoft .NET, which works well with... etc. Of course, the product at the end of the chain is always the same... Microsoft Windows.

Patents are just one trick-- there are a lot of other ones, like keeping key .NET libraries Windows-only. If you're doing Linux, just stay away from .NET.

C.