Redmond (WA) - Microsoft is expanding its presence in the Linux arena and has announced a collaboration with Linspire, a company that is offering a consumer-focused Linux-based operating system : For a fee, Linspire customers will be able to access acquire a "patent covenant" for Microsoft technologies.

Following similar announcements with Novell and Xandros, Microsoft is continuing its strategy to create a level of interoperability between Linux and Microsoft platforms and increase its influence in the open source environment. However, while details were not disclosed, the latest agreement appears to more one-sided than the preceding announcements.

Microsoft will be offering Linspire customers with a fee-based option of "acquiring a patent covenant", guaranteeing Linspire customers that the "Linspire technologies they use come with rights to relevant Microsoft patents."

If Linspire customers choose to purchase such a covenant, they will get access to three Microsoft software packages : (1) Linspire’s Pidgin instant messenger will get voice interoperability with Microsoft’s Office Communicator and Live Messenger through a license agreement that covers that covers Microsoft’s RT Audio Codec ; (2) Linspire will license Microsoft’s Windows Media 10 audio and video codecs as well as (3) some of Microsoft’s true type fonts, including Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman and Verdana.

Independent from the patent agreement, Linspire said it will join Microsoft in developing and distributing an open source Open XML/ODF document "translator". Additionally, Linspire agreed to use Microsoft’s Live Search as the default web search engine in its Linspire 5.0 distribution.

Linspire was founded by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson in January 2002 as "Lindows.com". Microsoft filed a trademark infringement suit against Lindows.com immediately - and ended up winning a 30-month courtroom battle in Europe and North America : Lindows.com changed its name to Linspire in July 2004.