MS's Steve Ballmer: Open Source "is Not Free"!

28 Feb MS's Steve Ballmer: Open Source "is Not Free"!

During a presentation to New York analysts, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer made it clear that partnership with Novell “demonstrated clearly the value of intellectual property, even in the open-source world.”
Are we to understand that open source can no longer be distributed freely? According to his presentation, the answer is “Yes.” The major argument behind this message is that the Linux operating system is infringing on MS’s intellectual property rights. So, Microsoft may decide sue Linux sellers.
Open-source users are urged to use up their coupons from the Miscrosoft-Novell partnership. Those coupons entitle users to free support and maintenance for Novell’s Suse Linux Enterprise Server. The partnership implies that MS is going to offer the Suse Linux package for customers who want software featuring both Microsoft and open-source software elements. “Patent cooperation agreement” of Microsoft and Novell states that parties will not sue each other for patent infringement.