Microsoft takes on the free world

Microsoft blames free software like Linux of violating 235 of its patents. The company wants royalties from distributors and users.

The conflict puts Microsoft and its CEO, Steve Ballmer, against the "free world" - the people who believe software is pure knowledge. The leader of that faction is Richard Matthew Stallman, a computer visionary with the look and the intransigence of an Old Testament prophet. If the company gets its way, free software won't be free anymore, say from Fortune Magazine.