There’s a rumour circulating that Ubuntu is in discussions with Microsoft aimed at an agreement along the lines they have concluded recently with Linspire, Xandros, Novell etc. Unfortunately, some speculation in the media (thoroughly and elegantly debunked in the blogosphere but not before the damage was done) posited that “Ubuntu might be next”.

A former Microsoft executive, who became a patent troll, is being backed by his old boss

Microsoft is transforming from a proprietary software vendor into a litigation house, using the mere threat of patent lawsuits to effectively extort payments like a modern day Al Capone.

Microsoft was awarded more than 1,600 patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2007, placing it sixth on the list of biggest patent performers, according to IFI Patent Intelligence, which tracks patent awards. IBM, which tried but failed to patent outsourcing last year, won the patent count for the 16th straight year, with more than 3,100 patents.

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services is targeting Sun Microsystems for patent violations in its open-source software, claiming OpenOffice.org breaches 45 of its patents. Sun wasted no time in responding to the claims coming out of Redmond.

TiVo is preemptively sued by Microsoft for alleged patent violation and Microsoft's PR puts together some lies to disguise the real cause

Mark Webbink becomes the Executive Director of Peer to Patent; Finjan and Blackboard reappear

Open Invention Network (OIN) announced that three of the eight patents cited in Microsoft's lawsuit against TomTom have been posted for prior art review by the Linux community. The evidence is being compiled to convince the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the patents are invalid.

Linux vendor Red Hat sure doesn't seem to like Microsoft much. Red Hat is now alleging that Microsoft is not committed to the path of peace with open source software vendors.