connecting*the*dots

5 Responses to “microsoft: all your code are belong to us…”  

1. 1 eric May 14th, 2007 at 10:54 am

   The really interesting point — often overlooked — is that the biggest users of Linux and other free software are not lone geeks but mega-corporations. There is something perverse in the notion of Wal*Mart running Linux, though I’m not at all sure what conclusions to draw from the fact.

2. 2 sean coon May 14th, 2007 at 11:52 am

   here are a couple of choice paragraphs:

   […] “So if Microsoft ever sued Linux distributor Red Hat for patent infringement, for instance, OIN might sue Microsoft in retaliation, trying to enjoin distribution of Windows. It’s a cold war, and what keeps the peace is the threat of mutually assured destruction: patent Armageddon - an unending series of suits and countersuits that would hobble the industry and its customers.

   […]

   But he does break down the total number allegedly violated - 235 - into categories. He says that the Linux kernel - the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware - violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces - essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up - run afoul of another 65, he claims. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.” […]

   when a company that based it’s entire operating system GUI on the mac OS has the balls to claim 65 patent violations for graphical user interfaces, they’ve got to be bluffing. if not, they’re ripe for a take down themselves.

   your right, eric, the corporate adoption of linux and open source is interesting (though, predictable in the long view, as the bottom line is immediately enhanced), as is the looming corporate battleground. unfortunately, the little guys don’t have the sovereign amenities like the corporate players — i’ve met of a number of talented, independent developers who refuse to try to take a smart idea to market for fear of being shut down by a random patent holding corporation with overzealous lawyers.

   software patents are a joke.

3. 3 Navaho Gunleg May 15th, 2007 at 7:47 am

   Patents are a joke, period. That whole system only functions because all the corporations in on it, couldn’t exist without it. Fact is the majority of those companies, by supporting the patent-system, can keep on producing flawed and crippled products — while taking out the ‘competition’ that knows how to reverse-engineer the stuff and make better ones. The patent system sure ain’t there for consumers.

   And the excuse that patents are necessary to pay back investments into research and stuff… Well that doesn’t stand because collaborate with other people ffs in stead of re-inventing the same wheel in 20 different places wasting even more precious money.

   `Ownership is theft’ and in my book that principle applies to ideas as well.

   These companies should start invest in good products and make consumers happy in stead of taking down the projects that do accomplish that goal.

4. 4 eric May 15th, 2007 at 11:58 pm

   when a company that based it’s entire operating system GUI on the mac OS has the balls to claim 65 patent violations for graphical user interfaces, they’ve got to be bluffing. if not, they’re ripe for a take down themselves.

   As always, Microsoft’s chutzpah knows no bounds.

5. 5 Navaho Gunleg May 19th, 2007 at 5:08 am

   On a related note, through Slashdot I just caught this Groklaw article — I quote: “Eben Moglen is saying that the SUSE vouchers Microsoft is distributing have no expiration date! I didn’t know this. It’s huge. This is, according to Moglen’s remarks, another defense to any patent infringement claim by Microsoft, and it may well bring that campaign to a screeching halt.”

   Interesting.