Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Canonical Ltd., which maintains the Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution said he doubts Microsoft would file suit against a free software developer unless the software giant wants "war."

At the end of a session at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention here on July 24, where Shuttleworth discussed the emerging practice of mixing agile development methods in with community development efforts, Shuttleworth responded to a question about the possibility of Microsoft making patent claims against open source code by saying: "I don't believe Microsoft will file suit against free software developers. It would be tantamount to declaring nuclear war... And I can afford it."

Moreover, Shuttleworth said he knows open source and free software developers need to be extra careful, because "[patent] trolls are going to be a problem; they're already starting..."

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