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A Lawyer's View on the OpenGL Patent Mess
PDAJames writes "This article has an interesting take on Microsoft's claims on OpenGL technology. An IP lawyer says that Microsoft could make things difficult for OpenGL if they feel like it, basically. "
No, but if you had a history of violent assault, one might reasonably lay strong odds for the likelihood of you doing it again!
Don't read this!
I would love to see SGI, Nvidia, ATi, and other leading graphics companys to step it up. You can not tell me that Microsoft hasn't borrowed heavily from patented concepts and ideas that were first implemented by some of these companies. I bet it would be extremely easy for a few lawyers and engineers to get together and build up a solid case that Microsoft did not pay to implement technologies patented by these groups.... The concept of Microsoft INNOVATING any of the concepts embodied in DirectX is absolutely ridiculous.
Since I first saw the stories about Microsoft and OpenGL recently, I've been wondering how this is going to play out. Microsoft's whole DirectX thing has largely been targeted/used by games, but what about the other markets that us OpenGL. My specific interest is in the 3-D CAD market. In this particular market, the software vendors and hardware vendors have been exclusively using OpenGL for a number of reasons:
1) Multiple platform support, (most CAD systems run on unix or started on Unix)
2) OpenGL existed long before DirectX
I'm sure there's other reasons, but I wonder if the CAD vendors and other vendors are going to consider DirectX in the future, especially with so many vendors shifting more focus towrads Windows in the last couple of years. What about other markets that use OpenGL extensively?
Have you hugged your Karma Whore today?
It might kill Linux on the Desktop, but certainly not the server, where Linux has a clear advantage over MS on the 'net.
I remember when Amazon came up with its single-click patent and tried to stop BN from doing the same, BN just added a confirmation page and called it a "two-click" checkout!
Is it not possible to circumvent MS patents like that? I am not saying that these algorithms have the same trivial complexity, but the generally speaking, this should be possible.
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> that kills a ton of XFree86 work
Amn't qualified to comment on *how* much X work, but anything that encourages development of alternatives to X is a good thing IMO. Linux _needs_ stuff like directfb etc to catch on if it has to make headway with the Joe User.
Rule#1: Find out where Microsoft is going, and don't go there
This includes predicting where Microsoft will want to go in a year's time. The world is littered with the corpses of companies that put out the "first" versions of some kinds of software - HTML browsers, HTML editors, spreadsheets, word processors, you name it. Sure, they'll do allright for the first year or so, but when Microsoft sees that there's money to be made there, they will produce three (3) equivalent versions of their own competing with yours. The first will be a laughable joke. The second will be considerably better. The third will kill you.
No other company on the planet can afford to publish two failures before succeeding. They have the cash; they will eventually destroy you.
Finally, remember also that Microsoft exists solely to increase shareholder value, not to make your puny life more convenient. They'll throw as many screwdrivers into the spokes of the competition as it takes to get ahead..
If I had bought $10,000 worth of shares of MSFT in 1985 instead of doggedly slaving away in programming shops all this time, I'd be a millionaire today. I wish I had, because then I'd have gobs of free time to write GPL software instead :-).
Microsoft hinted that it would prefer an alternative licensing arrangement. At this month's OpenGL meeting, Microsoft representative Dave Aronson suggested that "other bodies have licensing terms that are more effective in a corporate sense, and we should look at adopting some of those terms."
This is something we'll begin to hear a lot - Microsoft will do license fees of $0.00 for many of their technologies, but restrict the platforms to non-open ones. The real target here is not OpenGL but rather Open Source. The lack of fee will give them the ability to say "look, we're giving it away" to deflect the attention away from the restrictions in the license.
I'm sure they'll be "super excited" about the resulting "ecosystem".
If this what a lawyer is telling us, then why can't he determine one way or the other what the bottom line is?
Perhaps it's just FUD. Hasn't any Patent lawyer looked over the issue, outside of MS?
And if MS bought some IP from SGI and this caused the problem, the where else can MS buy up IP and cause problems?
Shouldn't such an issue be the focus....to remove such a possibility before MS makes things worse?
They agreed to release the patent to OpenGL, so can they sell it to somebody who is going to "un-release" it?
I would presume that this cannot be legal, since if it were, we would have a different RAMBUS-type fiasco every day of the week. Every company would agree to give free access to their patents that are used in an open standard, and immediately after the standard is deployed, they would sell their patent to a 'collection agency' and tell all of the suckers who implemented the open spec to pay up.
Maybe I should patent this business model right away...
Kill it on the desktop, and you come a step closer to killing it in the server market. Less people with experience in Linux leads to more unfortunate uninformed MS server choices. It's not like this is M$'s only attack on Linux, they clearly understand the concept of death by 1000 cuts.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
It may be the case that SGI has just fucked everyone, by licensing a patent for free for many years, letting it become part of a standard, and then irresponsibly selling it to someone that they knew would stop licensing it for free, in order to eliminate the standard.
(Ohmygod, that was one sentence? I'm sorry.)
It's not the classical "submarine patent" scenario, though it is similar.
It's past time to really, really, get rid of predatory patent abuse, once and for all. I think we're going to need to hire Congress for this one, assuming they're willing to deal with walk-in customers instead of established clients.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Nobody believed "us" back in the day when MS first adopted Java. We all TOLD YOU SO! That Microsoft was going to embrace and extend the standard, and fuck it up so that it would not work properly on Windows.
Oh no, you said. We were just a bunch of paranoid unix loving long haired hippies that needed a bath and got off on bashing Microsoft because they were the embodiment of "the man".
Here it is, 2002. See where Java on WIndows is today.
Back in the 80's we told you that NOBODY was going to be able to stop Microsoft. You told us in 1993 when the DOJ sued them for anticompetitive behavior that that was it for MS. They got the consent decree in 95, and wiped their asses with it and stuffed it in the judge's mouth. Then in 1998, when the DOJ came a knockin again, you said - that was IT, no more mister nice guy, they'll put a stop to that evil Microsoft, but we'll keep running Windows over here in our little corner, because it was "most compatible" "most convenient".
Well, look. Here it is, 2002, no sign of a settlement with any degree of teeth - Microsoft has it's fingers in nearly every aspect of computing, and has extended into entertainment, banking, even fucking HISTORY for christ's sake (buying DaVincci's stuff and locking it down). And there you people go, still saying Windows is great, Office is a great app, etc. Well, thanks. You've sold us all into slavery.
You'll now say - don't worry, they won't close off OpenGL (hm - I wonder if they think if all that money they spent on marketing XBox was effective. OF COURSE NOT! Not until they kill of OpenGL). You say, they won't close off identity and privacy (.NET, Palladium).
Dude, we're living in a totally fucked up world.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.