Let's Pay Attention, People!

Let's Pay Attention, People!

stumbles wrote:

I agree. This sounds similar good ol' Mr. Blepp running around in Germany with a suitcase full of evidence but some how has not made it to the courts here. When I first heard of OSRM and their goals, I had my doubts then. This little exercise of theirs does nothing but cause more doubt about their real goals. Which in my view not to really help GPL but use scare tactics to chum business for themselves. As long as OSRM keeps these supposed findings a secret or you have to actually ask for it, then these guys are little better than SCOG.

This is not fishy at all. Pay careful attention. This is the way patent law works: willful infringement increases the damages. If you know about a specific patent and a court decides you are infringing, you will pay and pay and pay.

If you're looking for the differences between OSRM and SCO, let's start here: SCO won't tell you the infringements without your signing an NDA. OSRM will tell you, presumably without an NDA, but they advise you not to look if you do kernel work. IANAL but from everything I've seen, it's good advice.

Another difference: SCO are the people who are trying to soak IBM for all they're worth, and are making unsubstantiated claims like crazy. PJ, the lady who runs Groklaw, is one of the people working for OSRM. I don't know about you, but I think she's done a dynamite and careful job of researching SCO's claims and filings, and has uncovered a lot of problems with them. She's one of the people who are keeping SCO from being able to play the games they're trying to play on the community. If you want a sample of her work, look at Groklaw. We have every reason to conclude she's on the up-and-up, whereas SCO's behavior speaks for itself.

Look at the business model of OSRM. Look at their own description of what they're trying to do---they're providing business risk insurance for business organizations that are nervous about attacks such as SCO's. This is a very conventional thing to do and it's a good thing to do. It's a good thing to do because it means that large organizations can reduce their perceived risk in adopting GNU/Linux and other free software. It's a good thing to do because the companies that adopt such insurance are the companies that an SCO would otherwise be attacking because they're easy prey. Risk insurance makes litigious business models less lucrative. Will OSRM make a profit? I hope so! "Free software" means "libre", not "gratis". If they're helping the community, and I think they will, they should prosper at it.

Last comment, folks. Pay attention to what's going on. Let's not attack our own. We have enough trouble from year to year without going after people who are trying to help.