'Maddog' Bullish on Open Source (eWeek) [LWN.net]

eWeek has posted an interview with Jon "Maddog" Hall. "I talk a lot with governments, for the most part industry has gotten it. The next really big scene will be the bulk of the independent software vendors [ISVs], and what they'll have to do to meet that marketplace. At the same time, there's a large group of the mom-and-pop businesses I call the "great unwashed." We're trying to interact more with local user groups and give them the marketing ammunition to go out and talk to business, educators and government."

to post comments

'Maddog' Bullish on Open Source (eWeek)

Posted Aug 8, 2003 19:03 UTC (Fri) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link]

"People forget that the copyright laws were created for the common good, and if you accept the fact that copyrights and patents were created for the common good, and if you accept the fact that open-source software was created for the common good, then maybe open-source software deserves more protection than other types of software."

So, "WE" HAVE TO PUT THAT ON PAPER;

why not some organisation that can sign enforcable "contract licence agreements" whit IBM, HP, SUN, SGI, RED HAT, for all those patents that are already in Linux Kernel and other Open-Source projects. This in lign of view that the commom pool of code has more value than any single vendor could aspire to have,..., that is, IBM in its server with Linux already use patents from SGI, RED HAT,etc... The same the other way around. And the code and the patents dont change owners, just are licenced without a fee, and are enforcable by a commom organism like the one RED HAT suggest with the fund for Linux litigation.

Whit such a "WARCHEST" of so many contributers, i doubt very much that even the mighty Microsoft would dare to atack Open-Source with IP issues.

All of a sudden, the former and the next SCO seems smaller than a mosquito, and all the worries about patents vanish.

The other way, if an IP war is generalized even IBM and all the others have much to lose.

Does Linus speak for open source?

Posted Aug 14, 2003 20:18 UTC (Thu) by cwitty (guest, #4600) [Link]

The article starts with "Linux creator Linus Torvalds may be the main mouthpiece for open source...", which strikes me as a very odd thing to say. There are many other people who speak about open source far more frequently than Linus...