Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has once more claimed that Linux and open source violates Microsoft's intellectual property and patents. Canonical's CEO Mark Shuttleworth thinks Ballmer has it all wrong.

In an interview with Linux-Watch, Shuttleworth, the man behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, explained why he thinks Ballmer's latest claims against Linux and open source are so much nonsense.

For starters, Shuttleworth said, Ballmer is implying that open-source developers don't take IP seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth, he said.

"Intellectual property is something the free software community takes very, very seriously," said the software leader and first African national in space. "There is a perception that the free software is somehow riding on the coattails of the real industry or somehow avoids intellectual property laws."

All you need to do, said Shuttleworth, is look at how free software and open-source advocates approach open-source licenses, like the GPL.

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