Microsoft patent claims complicated by GPLv3
,----[ Quote ]
| The current version of the GPL, the open-source license for Linux,
| does not have specific protection against patent litigation for
| companies distributing Linux. However, GPLv3, which is expected
| to be in final release in the next couple of months, has a
| provision promising patent safety to those who receive software,
| such as Linux, distributed under the license.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1108052425&rid=-50
Related:
Open sourcerers do battle for GPLv3
,----[ Quote ]
| Mark Taylor, a former head of the Open Source Consortium in the UK,
| thinks the whole thing is being blown out of all proportion.
|
| He told us: "The only people worrying about the GPL draft are people
| like ACT. Everyone else is really pleased with the draft. The original
| GPL aimed to prevent deals like the one between Novell and Microsoft.
| They just found a loophole. This draft closes it."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/10/open_gpl3/
Clearing up anti-GPL3 FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| Some of the bad publicity about GPL3 is deliberate. A particularly
| bad article by Dan Lyons of Forbes magazine painted an offensive
| picture of GPL3 and Richard Stallman, even accusing Stallman of
| having sex with flowers (!!!) after Lyons failed to comprehend
| a scientific joke.
`----
http://technocrat.net/d/2007/3/22/16651/
Perens Lashes Out at Claims GPL 3 Brings Legal Risks
,----[ Quote ]
| "Let's make it clear that [ACT] is Microsoft's lobbying front and
| that they are going to paint as negative a picture as they can,"
| Perens told eWEEK in an interview.
|
| "Obviously, GPL software is displacing Microsoft enough to have
| them concerned, and it's doing it at customers who are important
| to them. A lawyer's job is to scare the other side if they can--because
| they know it's cheaper than winning a case in court," he said.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2112267,00.asp
ACT ['Microsoft pressure group?'] Warns of Legal Risk with Latest GPL Draft
,----[ Quote ]
| But ACT, a Washington-based technology lobby group whose membership
| includes large companies like eBay, Oracle, Orbitz and VeriSign, and
| which was founded in 1998 in response to the Microsoft antitrust case,
| is largely dismissed by those in the open-source community as nothing
| more than a lobby group for the interests of Microsoft and those
| other large corporations.
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Tecnology
,----[ Quote ]
| "ACT has been accused of being an industry front for Microsoft,
| promoting a Microsoft-friendly agenda in relation to property rights
| and anti-trust legislation."
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Technology
,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
|
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
|
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
|
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/
Through the Patent Looking Glass with Microsoft's Brad Smith
,----[ Quote ]
| But I think that in this case, Microsoft may be making a miss step.
| By focusing so much attention on this issue, it causes more articles
| -- like this one -- to be written to dispel the FUD. And it spawns
| more patent-focused efforts like those noted above to support open
| source software development and use. The result is that instead of
| cowing the little people, it helps pull back the curtain.
|
| And then you find that all-powerful Oz (and his patent portfolio)
| doesn't look so all powerful, after all.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070516070856610
Microsoft: shades of Saddam Hussein
,----[ Quote ]
| When they write the history of the computer history 10 years from now, the
| date May 14, 2007 will be marked in red: it's the day when everyone knew
| that Microsoft was starting to go down the tube.
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12225&Itemid=1091
Microsoft, the art of Corporate Terrorism.
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, no longer the technological leader in the Computer Desktop
| market, is taking on a terrorist role in its attempt remain in power
| at all costs. (see the link to the CNN story below)
|
| The tactic is intended to frighten current, and would be, free
| software users away from products that Microsoft just can't compete
| with. It's not a new tactic, but for the first time desperation is
| beginning to show.
`----
http://sweetcomputing.com/index.php?wiki=Microsoft_Terrorism
|
|
