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Is Wizard-Code a Derived Work?

Posted by Cliff on from the careful-with-code-generators dept.

worldcitizen asks: "Now, with all the noise from the SCO case regarding copyrights, what constitutes a derivative work and who owns what, a question started creeping up: What would happen if Microsoft starts claiming copyright infringement or other Intellectual Property claims in the wizard-inserted code that Visual C++ generates? Would it be possible that even the simplest 'Hello, world' is tainted? Copyrights don't even require uniform enforcement. Could they selectively enforce it on Free Software projects for Windows that have used VC++ for development? Could they license it in such a way that makes it illegal to use Visual C++ for Free Software? Should this be a wake-up call to never use Visual C++ unless you have a cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft (obviously not for Free Software projects)?"

2 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Code Wizards suck anyway. by Dr.+Bent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Code wizards are way more trouble than they're worth anyway. Especially with GUI designers, the code they generate is totally un-maintainable. I've had GUI designers barf on me just because I reformmated the comments in my code, and once that happens, you might as well throw all your GUI code out and start over.

    Sure, writing it from scratch takes longer. But it takes a whole lot less time than re-writing the entire user interface when your boss says "move that button over there".

  2. subject by inerte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What would happen if Microsoft starts claiming copyright infringement or other Intellectual Property claims in the wizard-inserted code that Visual C++ generates?

    Nothing yet, since they currently don't do this kind of limiting with the wizard-code.

    Would it be possible that even the simplest 'Hello, world' is tainted?

    Yes, if they prove that your Hello World came from a Wizard instead of other method. (highly unlikely)

    Copyrights don't even require uniform enforcement. Could they selectively enforce it on Free Software projects for Windows that have used VC++ for development?

    If they make a license which says "Forbidden to use with Free Software", and someone uses it, then yes.

    Could they license it in such a way that makes it illegal to use Visual C++ for Free Software?

    Yes.

    Should this be a wake-up call to never use Visual C++ unless you have a cross-licensing agreement with Microsoft (obviously not for Free Software projects)?

    No. They won't do this.

    --
    Buy a Nintendo DS Lite