Microsoft's approach toward licensing as it applies to open source software isn't an attack, but a response to the demands of customers, a senior company executive said Wednesday.

Bob Muglia, senior VP of Microsoft's server and tools business, told attendees at the Interop business technology conference that controversy revolving around the company's claim that Linux and other open source software infringe on more than 200 Microsoft patents compelled him to "clarify our position on this, and where we're going."

Muglia said Microsoft was focused on interoperability with open source software, not on challenging the use of its intellectual property in court. "Our approach is a licensing based one," Muglia said. "It's a real issue for customers, and one that Microsoft is addressing proactively."

Microsoft has addressed the issue by offering licensing deals to open-source distributors. Novell, for example, entered a two-way deal last year that protects its customers from potential patent claims by Microsoft, while giving the software maker's customers the same protection in regards to Novell's intellectual property. The deal has been severely criticized by the open source community.

Muglia said Microsoft started the licensing program because customers were concerned over the legal risk of using open source software. "Customers have indicated to us that's its problematic for them when they use open source software ... they don't have the assurance that they need to use it in their systems."

Earlier this week, Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the Ubuntu version of Linux, said in his blog that Microsoft was not "the real threat" to the Linux community.

"I'm pretty certain that, within a few years, Microsoft themselves will be strong advocates against software patents," he wrote. "Why? Because Microsoft is irrevocably committed to shipping new software every year, and software patents represent landmines in their road map which they are going to step on, like it or not, with increasing regularity."

The real threats, according to Shuttleworth, are companies that do not actually build software, but try to obtain licensing fees for the patents they hold. Shuttleworth, however, doesn't blame so-called "patent trolls" for exercising their rights. "It's not the patent-holders who are the problem, it's the patent system."