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IBM Denies Open Source Sellout
http://www.latestngadgets.com/ibm-denies-open-source-sellout/3815.html
Linux's worst enemies? Linux fans
,----[ Quote ]
| That's not to say that Linux doesn't have
| its share of internal battles that don't do
| anyone any good. Free software founder
| Richard M. Stallman's insistence that Linux
| should be called GNU/Linux puzzles more
| people than it does bringing anyone to
| Linux, or GNU/Linux if you insist. In the
| last few days though, another Linux family
| fight has erupted.
|
| This time around, it's open-source
| developer and anti-patent political
| lobbyist Florien Mueller accusing IBM of
| breaking its promises to the FOSS (free and
| open-source software) community of not
| using patents against it. Mueller's is
| ticked off that TurboHercules, an open-
| source z/OS emulator company, over its
| possible misuse of IBM patents, which
| includes two that's covered by IBM's pledge
| to not sue open-source companies or groups
| using these patents.
|
| I have several problems with this. First,
| as Pamela Jones of Groklaw points out,
| TurboHercules started the legal fight with
| IBM and the open-source software license it
| uses isn't compatible with the GPL--the
| license that covers Linux. Second, this is
| really just a standard-issue business fight
| that involves patents. It does not, as
| Mueller would have it, show that "After
| years of pretending to be a friend of Free
| and Open Source Software (FOSS), IBM now
| shows its true colors. IBM breaks the
| number one taboo of the FOSS community and
| shamelessly uses its patents against a
| well-respected FOSS project, the Hercules
| mainframe emulator."
`----
http://blogs.computerworld.com/15906/linuxs_worst_enemies_linux_fans
Patent MADness
,----[ Quote ]
| Patents could lead to the mutually assured
| destruction of the software industry and
| the parading of pledged patents in the
| opening of a dispute between IBM and
| TurboHercules threatens to upset the only
| progress towards a safer world for open
| source.
|
| Patents are akin to the missiles of the
| Cold War. The super powers of the software
| industry have built up large arsenals of
| them to give them bargaining power. But if
| all companies who held patents were to
| pursue all infringements of their patents
| at the same time, there would be nothing
| left of the entire IT industry except the
| legal departments.
|
| [...]
|
| That said, it is somewhat essential to
| isolate the overarching problems with
| patents from the specific problem of the
| pledged patents. The former is a systemic
| problem which requires complex negotiation,
| legal reforms and an industry wide
| consensus that the problem exists in the
| first place. The latter though is a
| specific problem, one that IBM can
| immediately resolve by saying "Sorry, those
| two patents were not meant to be there".
| That one move would reassure the community.
| IBM could, possibly, enhance their good
| reputation in the community by creating a
| new 2010 patent pledge which puts more of
| IBM's near 50,000 strong arsenal of patents
| "beyond use" against open source software.
`----
http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Comment-Patent-MADness-974639.html
IBM Locks Horns With Tiny French Firm Over FOSS
,----[ Quote ]
| The case also illustrates what RedMonk
| analyst Stephen O'Grady calls "the
| inevitable outcome of software patents:
| They get used."
|
| O'Grady is against software patents, "not
| for ideological reasons, but because it is
| self-evident to me that there is no
| reasonable mechanism for evaluating and
| granting patents," he told LinuxInsider.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/69716.html
Recent:
IBM vs. TurboHercules: Our story thus far...
http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/IBM-vs.-TurboHercules-Our-story-thus-far
IBM: Open Sourceâs Friend or Foe?
http://robertogaloppini.net/2010/04/06/ibm-open-sources-friend-or-foe/
IBM says it won't sue to protect open-source patents
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9175058/IBM_says_it_won_t_sue_to_protect_open_source_patents_
â When Reptiles Attack: Has IBM Tired Of FOSS?
,----[ Quote ]
| Despite the temptation to believe that some
| companies are unequivocal supporters of
| free and open source software, we should
| never forget that all for-profit companies
| are actually reptiles, acting instinctively
| on behalf of their shareholders and not
| acting on the basis of intellectual or
| philosophical insight. An expression of
| support will inevitably be a statement by a
| group of people within the company,
| motivated by a business activity. It will
| have been made in the context of a set of
| tensions between different priorities and
| with other groups of people in the same
| company. It will be the direction instinct
| has been steered by the availability of
| âfoodâ and the presence of âthreatâ. Every
| expression of support â or act of
| aggression â needs to be seen in that
| light.
|
| An important part of my job at Sun was to
| monitor actions they took that affected
| communities. I monitored the flow of
| requests to use and release open source
| code, ran the Ombudsman service so that I
| was first to hear of community issues, and
| acted as a (mostly!) âtrusted friendâ to
| Sunâs legal staff prior to any action they
| took. At regular intervals throughout my
| five year tenure, I spoke up for
| communities and ensured that the actions
| taken in Sunâs name were not harmful to a
| community or Sunâs FOSS reputation. On some
| occasions I even had to request executive
| back-up for my position, in effect
| requesting a veto power.
|
| Regardless of the merits of IBMâs case
| against TurboHercules, the fact the
| incident has happened at all is an
| important signal. I canât for a moment
| believe this is the first time since IBMâs
| patent pledge that any part of the company
| has wanted to act against a community
| participant. We can see the tension between
| the statement Dan Frye makes through the
| Linux Foundation and the statement of
| another IBM spokesperson in the WSJ
| attempting to say the Pledge doesnât apply
| to everyone. To hazard a guess, the
| competition is now characterised by Google
| â a huge user of and contributor to open
| source software â instead of IBMâs old
| foes, Microsoft and Solaris.
`----
http://webmink.com/2010/04/08/reptile-attack/
Is IBM splitting hairs with open source?
,----[ Quote ]
| Itâs no secret that Iâm a big Free Software
| fan. Itâs no secret that IBM is a giant
| company with more money than I can possibly
| imagine. So I was pretty happy in 2005 when
| IBM, in an obvious PR stunt to get buddy-
| buddy with the open source community, made
| its Statement of Non-Assertion of Named
| Patents Against OSS, ostensibly saying that
| it would permit open source projects to use
| any of the items covered by those patents
| without risk of penalty or lawsuit. Yay!
| Finally, a BigCo getting it and doing the
| right thing! But five years is a long time,
| people come and go, and promises can be
| forgotten. IBM has lately threatened to sue
| someone for infringement of a lot of IBM
| patents, including at least two that were
| included in the Non-Assertion statement.
|
| [...]
|
| More plausibly, what I think is going on
| here is one of two things. Either the
| lawyers got a little over-excited in
| creating the non-exclusive list of patents
| used to threaten TurboHercules and included
| two patents covered by the Non-Assertion
| statement; or IBM thinks theyâre free to
| sue the company, and not the open source
| project itself, for the patent
| infringement. My guess is itâs the latter.
`----
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/04/08/is-ibm-splitting-hairs-with-open-source/
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