On the bus on the way to the conference we were talking about what Microsoft is up to with the waving of patents and signing of licensing agreements with open source companies. The lunch keynote talk was by Brad Smith senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft. I'm still catching my breath - at least as I read between the lines Microsoft's plan is to impose a tax on the commercial open source market. Historically the Microsoft model has been one of a broad-based tax - deals with computer manufacturers to pay a fee on every computer sold. Although the short-term revenue from Vista is good Microsoft I believe rightfully fears commoditization of the operating system market. A tax on all operating systems seems like a sure bet for long-term revenues. I'm not at all convinced it will work, but I can understand why they think it is worth a shot.