Lemur
05-15-2007, 15:16
I don't know if everyone's been following this, but it all started on Sunday when Fortune Magazine online (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/) went live with a story in which Microsoft's counsel claimed that free and open-source software violates 235 of Microsoft's patents. What are they? Microsoft won't say.
Thing is, you can't sue Linux, since it's a movement, rather than a corporation. And there are very good provisions in the GPL that protect Linux distributors, so Microsoft's only avenue would be to sue customers. And all you need to do is ask SCO and the RIAA how well that works.
The FOSS community reacted with a mixture of rage, apathy and "bring it on." The best analysis I read was on Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070513234519615):
Let Microsoft sue if it wishes. If there is one thing we've learned from the SCO saga, it's that FUD doesn't kill you, so long as you know better than to give in to it. I'm not saying that Microsoft isn't a serious problem if it chooses to be annoying, but the stakes are so high for Microsoft too that I took the article as an admission that it's all over for patent peace agreements, and from now on it's Microsoft going door-to-door, threatening to bust companies' knee caps if people don't pay up. That isn't really a longterm business plan for a company that cares about its brand, particularly not after the Supreme Court has so radically altered the patent world. Microsoft's real problem in the marketplace is that folks already hate the company's business tactics. Making folks hate them more doesn't sound so smart. Even those who pay up in fear will be looking for a way to get away from a company that acts like that, don't you think? No one respects a bully. And so I take the article as a test, to see what the reaction will be more than an immediate threat. So boo loudly, please, and maybe Microsoft will get hit by the Cluetrain.
And it appears that the clue train did, in fact, strike Microsoft. This morning it issued a clarification (http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199501831) saying, in essence, "we were just kidding about suing our customers!"
Gutierrez said the comments were made not as a threat, but with the intention of highlighting an intellectual property issue affecting the entire computer industry. "It's important for everyone to understand that there is a real problem with Linux patents and that there is a need for a solution," he said.
Interesting, no?
P.S.: This issue is both legal and technical, so if the benevolent mods believe the thread should be in the Backroom, go ahead and move it.
Thing is, you can't sue Linux, since it's a movement, rather than a corporation. And there are very good provisions in the GPL that protect Linux distributors, so Microsoft's only avenue would be to sue customers. And all you need to do is ask SCO and the RIAA how well that works.
The FOSS community reacted with a mixture of rage, apathy and "bring it on." The best analysis I read was on Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070513234519615):
Let Microsoft sue if it wishes. If there is one thing we've learned from the SCO saga, it's that FUD doesn't kill you, so long as you know better than to give in to it. I'm not saying that Microsoft isn't a serious problem if it chooses to be annoying, but the stakes are so high for Microsoft too that I took the article as an admission that it's all over for patent peace agreements, and from now on it's Microsoft going door-to-door, threatening to bust companies' knee caps if people don't pay up. That isn't really a longterm business plan for a company that cares about its brand, particularly not after the Supreme Court has so radically altered the patent world. Microsoft's real problem in the marketplace is that folks already hate the company's business tactics. Making folks hate them more doesn't sound so smart. Even those who pay up in fear will be looking for a way to get away from a company that acts like that, don't you think? No one respects a bully. And so I take the article as a test, to see what the reaction will be more than an immediate threat. So boo loudly, please, and maybe Microsoft will get hit by the Cluetrain.
And it appears that the clue train did, in fact, strike Microsoft. This morning it issued a clarification (http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199501831) saying, in essence, "we were just kidding about suing our customers!"
Gutierrez said the comments were made not as a threat, but with the intention of highlighting an intellectual property issue affecting the entire computer industry. "It's important for everyone to understand that there is a real problem with Linux patents and that there is a need for a solution," he said.
Interesting, no?
P.S.: This issue is both legal and technical, so if the benevolent mods believe the thread should be in the Backroom, go ahead and move it.