The memo is two years old. And it is from Hewlett-Packard execs, not Microsoft ones. But it still makes for interesting reading. Would Microsoft consider filing patent-infringement lawsuits to thwart open source? HP officials seemed to think, back in 2002, that Microsoft was poised to launch a number of these kinds of suits against Linux distributors, OEMs and/or developers. Given how unpopular these kinds of lawsuits have made SCO — not to mention how they'd negatively impact Microsoft's current campaigns to improve customer/partner relationships — we'd think such suits would be unlikely. We asked Microsoft for comment on the memo; officials declined.