Open Source and Microsoft Windows

Yesterday i read article about microsoft claim on open source (http://detikinet.com/index.php/detik.read/tahun/2007/bulan/05/tgl/14/time/123407/idnews/780367/idkanal/317 -- these article was written in bahasa indonesia). This is really interesting for me since i don't know much about patent right or human intellectual right. I just know that when i use linux on my laptop there is some feature that like similar with microsoft windows on my PC at my office. I think what i use on my PC is the basic need of human to get easily interact with their PC or Laptop, in other word, microsft is one step ahead from Linux :)
...but i choose to use linux (open source) for my daily and simple activity because it's free