Microsoft, FUD and Lawsuits (1998-)
As free software became more popular, industry incumbents such as Microsoft started to see it as a serious threat. This was shown in a leaked 1998 document, confirmed by Microsoft as genuine, which came to be known as the first of the Halloween Documents.
Microsoft once compared the GPL to "a cancer", but has since stopped using this analogy. Indeed, Microsoft has long since softened its public stance towards open source in general, in recognition of the fact that open source is today an important part of the Microsoft Windows ecosystem. However, at the same time, behind the scenes, Microsoft's actions have not been as favourable towards the open source community.
Read more about this topic: History Of Free And Open-source Software