October 10, 2018 — OIN is all about Linux, and protecting its fans from trolls waving the Intellectual Property (IP) stick at the platform. OIN does this by providing a royalty-free licence to its strategic IP portfolio and cross-licensing patents between its members. In return it expects that licensees do not assert their patents against the Linux community. Microsoft signing up is therefore yet another big step in Redmond’s attempts to distance itself from its “Linux is cancer” past, and demonstrate its open-source chops.