Re:Why is everything last minute (Score 2)

Hey, choose your conspiracy and theorize.

The only reason for the suit to move as fast as it does, is to create the illusion that it is valid and to spread FUD within the Linux community.

Coding features into Linux that bring it closer to the consumer-friendliness and ease of use of Windows and MacOs bring Linux closer to the point where home an corporate users will see less reason to run Windows 2K or the latest blunder-set out of Cupertino. The companies in question, including Microsoft, see the maneuvering in court as a way of maintaining market control and holding back innovation in Linux by warning the Linux community that anything that an ill-informed judge might see as a cause of action will rapidly become one.

For a large corporation, high-powered lawyers come as a shrink wrapped tax-deduction, while for Joe programmer, defending a lawsuit_even one with zero-merit_can become a quick cause for bankruptcy. The speed with which things have gone to court and with which things are happening internationally, support the pretense that the DVD manufacturers have suffered real damage and that they need quick action to "put the genie back in the bottle." At the same time, the rapid legal action demonstrates that Linux innovation that touches on commercial patents will be met with a fast and nasty slapdown.