____/ The Ghost In The Machine on Friday 05 October 2007 01:41 : \____
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, [H]omer
> <spam@xxxxxxx>
> wrote
> on Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:28:17 +0100
> <hh9gt4-29e.ln1@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Attila spake thusly:
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>> ____/ Attila on Thursday 04 October 2007 10:58 : \____
>>
>>>> I try to avoid the gender/age thing and I referred to this as "parents"
>>>> (subject line says "patents", but it's a classic QWERTY typo).
>>>>
>>> And patents are much worse than parents. And patents don't use linux,
>>> whoops I mean linux doesn't use patents. ;-)
>>
>> Well according to Sweaty, it uses 235 of them (unsubstantiated).
>>
>
> Linux kernel violates 42 patents, according to Microsoft's claims.
> The GUI (KDE? Gnome? Motif??) runs afoul of 65 more.
> OpenOffice gobbles up 45,
> email programs infringe on 15,
> and other assorted FOSS transgress on 68 patents.
>
> http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/
>
> And they've yet to identify the specific patents, AFAIK.
>
> Stop laughing back there! This is ultra-serious
> stuff...and should be taken as seriously as SCO's case
> against IBM of trade secrets infringment....uh oh, I think
> someone's howling in pain back there...or is it gasping
> for breath?
>
> They say laughter is the best medicine but at times I
> wonder if Microsoft is giving us too much of a good thing...
Read this:
Microsoft too busy to name Linux patents
,----[ Quote ]
| First you get everyone riled claiming open source and Linux infringe on
| your patents, then you won’t detail those patents. Why? The paperwork.
|
| Yes, Microsoft cited administrative overhead for not detailing the 235
| Microsoft patents its chief legal counsel recently told Forbes exist in
| Linux and open source.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/24/microsoft_novell_patents/
This is the latest:
Linux group calls Microsoft's bluff
,----[ Quote ]
| OIN chief executive Jerry Rosenthal told vnunet.com that Microsoft's
| assertions are simply an attempt to undermine the open source movement.
|
| Rosenthal added that it is time for Microsoft to reveal the patents that are
| supposedly being infringed, or to drop the claims.
|
| "The FUD is clear. If you have a patent that you are proud of, then disclose
| it," he said.
|
| [...]
|
| Mark Taylor, president of the Open Source Consortium, agreed with Rosenthal
| and described Microsoft's tactics in damning terms.
|
| "We say show us the patents," he told vnunet.com. "This has been the strategy
| against open source all along. It's precisely the same tactics as SCO used:
| implied threats and mafia techniques. This is just FUD. It's smoke and
| mirrors. "
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2200498/oin-calls-microsoft-bluff
And I like Mark Shuttleworth's take:
Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community
,----[ Quote ]
| "That's extortion and we should call it what it is," he said. "To say, as
| [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet
| liability, that's just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that
| game. On the other side, if Microsoft is concerned about its intellectual
| property, there is no one in the free software community that wants to
| violate anyone's IP. Disclose the patents and we'll fix the code.
| Alternatively, move on."
|
| Microsoft has said it does disclose which patents are being violated, but
| only in one-on-one conversations with vendors. To Shuttleworth, that is not
| disclosure, because patents are public documents.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2167193,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
[Mark Shuttleworth Interview]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won't
| say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: "It's an
| unsafe neighbourhood, why don't you pay me 20 bucks and I'll make
| sure you're okay," that's illegal. It's racketeering. What Microsoft
| is doing with intellectual property is exactly the same. It's a great
| company and I have great admiration for it, but this was not a
| well considered position.
|
| So you wouldn't do a deal?
|
| No, absolutely not. But the time will come when the folks at
| Microsoft who have a clear vision for the company as a participant
| in this community, rather than as a hostile antagonist, will win.
`----
http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=6672
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Othello for Win32/Linux: http://othellomaster.com
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Mem: 515500k total, 446236k used, 69264k free, 1132k buffers
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
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