Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes) [LWN.net]

Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Posted Aug 2, 2004 20:43 UTC (Mon) by sbergman27 (guest, #10767)
Parent article: Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Well, Bruce Perens, who is on the board of OSRM, is on Slashdot defending them. I have a lot of respect for Bruce, so I'm trying to stay open minded about this, as fishy as it sounds. Though I can't help but be reminded of Eric Raymonds initial vote of support for VA Linux when he was a board member there, right before they went proprietary.

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Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Posted Aug 2, 2004 20:53 UTC (Mon) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] (5 responses)

We need to have OSRM's legal team as part of our strategy for defending Open Source developers from frivolous patent prosecution.

And by the way, did anyone think that there were no patents that could be read as applying to code used in Linux? If so, you haven't been following any of the news about how bad the patent system has become.

There is a real legal risk. It is worse than SCO because it has a firmer legal basis of a legally - although perhaps unjustly - granted patent, not a nebulous contract term or an undisclosed allegation of infringement like SCO.

Don't you think Microsoft has a plan when they increase patent filing so much?

I have been telling you folks we're in trouble about Patents since 1996.

Bruce

Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Posted Aug 2, 2004 21:11 UTC (Mon) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link] (1 responses)

These days you can patent breathing if you are smart about it.. and probably get it enforced for a while too.

I was expecting that the kernel would violate 1000's if not 10,000's of thousands of loose patents. I am expecting that a distribution of Debian would definately be there with various authentication patents.

There is not much that can be done about it other than getting a legal team together and start killing patents left and right with prior evidence or making sure that they are narrowed so that they dont apply.

So where do I send my money to pay for the OpenSource dreamteam?

Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Posted Aug 2, 2004 22:15 UTC (Mon) by lakeland (guest, #1157) [Link]

I believe you're looking for the EFF...

Microsoft and The Plan

Posted Aug 3, 2004 2:47 UTC (Tue) by leonbrooks (guest, #1494) [Link] (1 responses)

Don't you think Microsoft has a plan when they increase patent filing so much?

Microsoft's plan to date has been:

Promise the Earth
Take the money
"You promised them what?"
Panic internally
Release vapourware
Buy something that will do the job, and badge-engineer it
Shaft the company you bought it from
Release the beta-quality software with great fanfare (spend more on the fanfare than the development)
Have the machine bluescreen in front of thousands of people when you plug the scanner in [optional]
Have support tell customers that it's their hardware, their particular system, or an unsupported configuration
Profit anyway

By nailing the feet of a lot of technology to the floor (like Mike as John Cleese in the Blender SigGraph 2004 reel), Microsoft have reduced this complex process to three short steps:

Taint down everything you can reach with a patent
Take the money
Profit

Unfortunately for them, their role when the mob arrives with pitchforks and torches will parallel that of the leader of the KoDan Armada (Lord Kril) when Alex Rogan depowers his command ship while it's in the path of a moonlet. "What do we do?" "We die".

Microsoft and The Plan

Posted Aug 3, 2004 3:23 UTC (Tue) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link]

You get 10 zillion coolness points for quoting from "The Last Starfighter".

Linux Scare Tactics (Forbes)

Posted Aug 4, 2004 15:24 UTC (Wed) by Oddly_Drac (guest, #23754) [Link]

> I have been telling you folks we're in trouble about Patents since 1996.

We've been listening, but until such a time arrives where a landmark case actually starts to occur that could overturn a patent award, and believe me there have been some doozies recently where *I* could find prior art, we're stuck in a limbo where the only solution is to make litigator's richer.

Not only is this extending the problem further, it's just going to increase the amount of service industry dedicated to keeping coders coding and license dollars flowing through litigation. *This is a broken implementation from start to finish*

At least the EFF is starting to challenge the patents rather than say 'Here's a terrible situation, but for $9.99 you can be protected (depends on court judgement, terms and conditions apply) against the worst'.