This OIN development does not cure the patent bugaboo for Linux. There are innumerable software patents that create a patent minefield for any software platform. But what OIN might do is start to shift corporate perceptions of patent coverage regarding Linux, however illusory that safety net actually is. That would accelerate adoption, which of course is the intended effect.

Microsoft indemnifies its customers who embed Windows into their products from patent infringement liability. That offers real insurance, and is a logical, though very bold, next step for companies pushing Linux.

"Open source" always has been something of a misnomer. Yes, you can get at the source, but you're delusional if you think it's easily fixed or extended. From one who has studied it extensively expressly for patent infringement, Linux code quality ranges from incomprehensible to nearly professional looking, but almost never veers near the adjective 'polished'.

So, open source software is ultimately a shared code base, open really only to a dedicated few. Software companies, with sufficient resources, can develop applications on top of Linux that should run on competitor's Linux platform offerings. That's a considerable improvement from the Baskin-Robbins 31 flavors of UNIX incompatibility that developed in the past.

Actually, UNIX is good precedent for looking at market acceptance. Back in the 1980s, year after year, UNIX was going to make strides in the marketplace. One of America's once-great companies, AT&T, squandered much of itself on that hope. And that was before software patents loomed as a roadblock. Linux may prove no better.

OIN, or even the next step in patent pooling or protection, doesn't put Linux on the same footing as Microsoft's Windows, or even Apple's OS-X, in terms of dedicated resources and commitment. One can argue quality as a philosophical endeavor, but from extensive personal experience with all three platforms, right now, Linux least deserves the complement of "shiny".

Ultimately, quality and life-cycle cost are going to be the determining factors in marketplace acceptance. On that, the monopoly in Redmond is staking its life, and keeps running as hardcore as it can, moving the OS marker forward, software patents included.

Fellow patent blogger Peter Zura on this.