Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), by 2006, had allegedly violated 235 patents that Microsoft was in possession of, including the Linux Kernal, Samba, OpenOffice.org, and others. Three contracts were struck up between Novell and Microsoft, most notably, a patent agreement that stated, “Don’t sue us and we won’t sue you.” When this happened, some dire consequences were predicted for FOSS, however, it hasn’t exactly gone as predicted. FOSS has blossomed since then. It is my opinion, that in entering these contracts, Microsoft put more of a light on Open Source, which then attracted the attention of other programmers, and in general, people who like free things. There is a very strong market for Linux going right now with GUI enabled operating systems including Red Hat/Fedora, and Ubuntu. They are having great success and continue getting updates, and users, on a growing basis as people experience, and learn how to use the command line. It doesn’t seem like much impact has been made, other than most companies have started using Open Source as a way to make their product better and more efficient. A few years back both MySpace and Facebook open sourced Qizmt and Tornado, respectively, not to garner any love from the people, but to try and make them better, and more efficient (Asay Sept. 16, 2009). More than anything, I would say Microsoft is feeling the hurt, they are losing money with so many people looking toward the Free and Open Source Software markets. Who would want to pay hundreds of dollars, or as a company, millions for software licensing when you can just go open source and get a 100 percent discount? FOSS has definitely been helped as a result of everything that has happened, it is more visible than ever, and more companies than ever are making use of it. Google has been doing it for years now with their Android operating system which can be found on a majority of phones in the U.S. Android is leading Apple’s iOS 52.2% to 33.4% as of July 2012, comScore revealed in their latest report (Schroeder Sept. 5, 2012). The customization offered by Android over any other operating system is astounding, and personally my favorite. Not to say that Apple doesn’t make a quality product, also based off of the Linux kernel, they are just too strict with it, which doesn’t appeal to the tech-heads that exist today. Microsoft’s actions against FOSS have changed drastically since then. Microsoft is soon releasing their new Operating System titled “Windows 8” which had a Developer preview released specifically for developers of apps for the operating system and market. Microsoft has also pushed into the phone and tablet market and are trying to make headway there against the mobile giants Google and Apple. Microsoft’s app store is woefully lacking in comparison, and that’s a big reason they have turned to Free and Open sourcing to try and get that up to par so that they can be competitive. While I do enjoy the look of the Windows 8 RT version mainly for tablets, and phones, they won’t really be able to compete until they grow their apps, and have better security, that is offered by the differences in the operating systems of Android and Apple’s iOS.

References
Asay, Matt. C|Net, "World's biggest open-source company? Google." Last modified Sept. 16, 2009. Accessed October 19, 2012. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10354530-16.html.

Parloff, Roger. CNN Money, "Microsoft takes on the free world." Last modified May 14, 2007. Accessed October 22, 2012. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/index3.htm.

Schroeder, Stan. Mashable, "Android Increases U.S. Market Share to 52 Percent [REPORT]." Last modified Sept. 5 2012. Accessed October 19, 2012. http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/android-52-percent/.