Windows vs. Linux: The Patent Tax
April 16, 2007
With tax day approaching in America, we at the Software Freedom Law Center wanted to share some important information about the hidden taxes added to every copy of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. If you run a computer using Windows, you’re not just paying for the programmers who put the program together and the corporate operations that brought it to market. You’re also paying a hidden tax of well over $20 that Microsoft has had to pay to other patent holders. This is true whether you bought your copy of Windows on CD or pre-installed on a laptop, desktop, or server machine.