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Storing text docs in XML may run afoul of Microsoft patent
,----[ Quote ]
| At the same time that Microsoft was pushing for the adoption of an XML-based
| file format for documents, it had a patent pending that would cover most uses
| of XML for word processing files.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-granted-patent-on-xml-word-processing-files.ars
Don't be fooled again
,----[ Quote ]
| Glynn Moody writes an insightful analysis of Microsoft's latest attempt to
| confuse the issue of open standards by throwing a new word into the mix:
| balance. It didn't fool Glynn, and it shouldn't fool you, either.
|
| In the final analysis, the question of what is an open standard, and how
| governments and free markets should police the claims of those who purport to
| offer open standards should never come down to a question of rhetoric. An
| open standard should never depend on what the definition of "is" is. Rather,
| there is plenty of room for those who are honest to say "X is a proprietary
| standard, dependent on restrictive technologies that must be licensed for a
| fee" and for others who are equally honest when they say "Y is an open
| standard, dependent on a variety of technologies, all of which can be
| practiced royalty free". And if we believe that free markets can make
| intelligent decisions based on fair information, market participants can
| choose which offering is most attractive to them and the best will come to
| all.
`----
http://www.opensource.org/node/458
Chinese Microsoft Office Rival Launching on Web Soon
,----[ Quote ]
| A Chinese company that offers a rival suite to Microsoft Office is following
| industry trends by turning its software into a Web-based service.
|
| Evermore Software, based in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi, has for years
| offered a software suite that looks very similar to Microsoft Office but
| costs less. Now the company sees its rivals moving online, and it is
| designing a Web version of its suite to compete with the likes of Google Docs
| and Microsoft's upcoming Office Web apps.
`----
http://www.cio.com/article/499175/Chinese_Microsoft_Office_Rival_Launching_on_Web_Soon?taxonomyId=1461
Related:
Wigital: Interoperability - Open Source, Sun Java, Novell Linux and Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft patenst in these protocols will be made available on RAND terms at
| very low royalty rates Covenant not to sue open source developers for
| development and non-commercial distribution of implementations of these Open
| Protocols.
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http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-67212/wigital:interoperability-open-source-sun-java-novell-linux-and-microsoft
2008-04-02 Royalty Free versus Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, here an example of a RAND (Reasonable And Non Discriminatory) licensing
| model, this one has been made by Cisco about VRRP :
|
| Cisco is the owner of US patent No. 5 473 599, relating to the subject matter
| of "Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol for IPv6
| <draft-ietf-vrrp-ipv6-spec-04.txt>. If technology in this document is
| included in a standard adopted by IETF and any claims of this or any other
| Cisco patent are necessary for practicing the standard, any party will be
| able to obtain a license from Cisco to use any such patent claims under
| reasonable, non-discriminatory terms to implement and fully comply with the
| standard.
|
| First you need to contact Cisco to have a license but the terms are
| unknown. "Non-discriminatory" is vague and could be an issue for any free
| software implementation.
`----
http://www.foo.be/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/2008-04-02_Royalty_Free_versus_Reasonable_and_Non_Discriminatory_Licensing
Rambus Court: âPrice Raising Deceptionâ Not Competitive Harm
,----[ Quote ]
| By the time Rambus announced its patents and began demanding royalties (and
| filing patent infringement suits against companies that refused to pay
| royalties), Rambus had achieved a technical âlock-inâ that made it difficult
| for the memory chip industry to move to a different technology. Rambusâs
| lock-in allowed it to obtain a 90% market-share, and demand supracompetitive
| royalties from companies that were producing JEDEC-compliant memory devices.
| Rambus has earned several billion dollars in licensing fees to date, and by
| some estimates its total royalties are could reach as high as $11 billion.
`----
http://www.masslawblog.com/?p=179
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