chrisv wrote:
> Good. So why did you ask the above silly question?
Here's a few not-so-silly questions:
a) How many times has IBM accused Free Software projects of infringing
its patents?
b) How many Linux vendors has IBM made exclusive patent protection
(racket) deals with?
c) How many times has IBM claimed that Linux vendors have "balance-sheet
liabilities", and that those vendor's customers owe IBM money?
d) How many times, since the introduction of Linux in 1991, has IBM been
prosecuted for violations of the Sherman Act by the DOJ, or
investigated for anti-trust crimes by the European Commission? IOW,
how much of a threat to Linux does IBM's patents actually represent?
e) How many standards organisations has IBM corrupted by bribing
delegates to vote in its favour?
f) Which of the two companies, IBM and Microsoft, do you trust more to
/not/ use its patents as a weapon against Free Software and Linux?
g) In countries which misguidedly recognise software patents, which is
the better course of action: Ignore software patents at the risk of
having some patent-troll submarine your work with bogus claims, or
protect against such behaviour by being first through the door at the
patent office?
--
K.
http://slated.org
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| 'When it comes to knowledge, "ownership" just doesn't make sense'
| ~ Cory Doctorow, The Guardian. http://tinyurl.com/22bgx8
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Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
01:37:32 up 84 days, 23:13, 5 users, load average: 0.07, 0.03, 0.02
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