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Perens Looks For Payback for Open Source
A reader writes "Bruce Perens is rounding up luminaries including Brian Behlendorf and Laurence Lessig to meet IBM, HP (where he now works) and other companies that have made money from Open Software. Perens says he wants them to give up patent rights for some of their software. I'd say fat chance, but HP is bankrolling the meeting, which will follow LinuxWorld. See the story here."
IBM Rep: Thank you, Bruce, for giving us the opportunity to reiterate our commitment to Open Source. Last year we gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Linux development, and this year we plan to invest one billion dollars towards it. We've agreed to port Linux to all of our platforms and we've ported DB2 as well as a ton of other software to Linux. Our commitment to Linux is unequalled in the industry.
Perens: Well, that's nice, but that doesn't count. You see, what I'm talking about is --
IBM Rep: Wait a minute, that doesn't count?
Perens: Yes, you see, that's Open Source you're supporting, not Free Software.
IBM Rep: Are we at the right meeting?
H/P Rep: Yeah, Jim, but Bruce wants to talk about patents --
IBM Rep: Bruce, are you talking about Linux?
Perens: Well, GNU/Linux is a part of it, but --
IBM Rep: Guhnew Linux? We work with Red Hat, are they a competitor to Red Hat?
Perens: No, Red Hat sells that software.
IBM Rep: So they're a partner?
HP Rep: Jim, let me explain. You're actually providing free software to sell your hardware.
IBM Rep: How could it be free if we've given them over twice their market cap to develop it?
HP Rep: Well it was the basis of developing Linux.
IBM Rep: So somebody developed this before Linux and now they want paid for it?
Perens: No, they don't want to be paid. They just want you to give up some of your ability to get paid.
IBM Rep: Are they insane?
(pause)
Perens: Well I represent the Free Software community, and I thnk I can speak for them.
IBM Rep: Really. Before IBM committed to doing anything with Linux, I was told that the community would love us for using it. Now we use it more than anyone else.
Perens: Well Free Software was there before you developed it, it just wasn't adapted by business.
IBM Rep: And we helped it get adapted and we're it's strongest advocates.
Perens: I think so.
IBM Rep: So? Does the community love us?
Perens: Well not really. It isn't enough to use the software, to port it to different platforms, to encourage its use and to give an incredible amount of money to develop it further. You also have to give up some of your ability to make money in the future.
(long pause)
IBM Rep: Folks, I've just gotten paged and there's an emergency we have to take care of.
Perens: But I haven't gotten to the patent part yet.
IBM Rep: Sorry, gotta run.
Asking for a complete patent license tends to get refused. However I have neogitated what amounts to the same thing - a free license for use in an open standard protocol - which is all that anyone really cares about in any case.
Most patents are filled for defensive purposes. Only a very few companies actually make money from patents as such - TI being the biggest example in the tech sector. IBM does make significant patent royalties but those tend to be manufacturing and processing.
Software patents are not actually terrifically profitable. If an idea is patented then people tend to design arround the patent. The number of ideas so devastatingly original that they can't be evaded is very small.
If the meeting has been set up right then Brian and co have already got some deal with IBM and this is simply an excuse to allow the IBM management to give away property rather than sit on it and watch it be unused.
The biggest lever the open source community has against patents is that in general a patented product is nowhere near as useful as a standards based one. There are exceptions but very few.
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I'm a rabid FSFer. I cringe at the term "open source", preferring "free software". But even *I* can see this is a terrible, terrible idea.
Yes, by all means, try to persuade Big Business to play nice. But don't, for the love of God, say that's it's "payback" for benefits they've received from the community. The entire idea of "open source" (which is what the company's bought into, not free software) is that the company doing the releasing gets a benefit. So you can't try to make them "pay twice" by asking for a favor later.
Bruce, you cannot drive a man with a stick, you must lead him with a carrot. Point out the *benefits* of releasing patents, don't try to appeal to some nebulous "gratitude".
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