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HP Memo Predicts MS Patent Attacks on Open Source
Roblimo writes "A two-year-old internal HP memo has just surfaced that talks about how 'Microsoft could attack Open Source Software for patent infringements against OEMs, Linux distributors, and least likely open source developers. They are specifically upset about Samba, Apache and Sendmail.' NewsForge has the story, including the memo's full text, a response from Eben Moglen (who says the memo's author misinterprets part of the GPL), and a statement from HP saying they love open source, really they do, even though 'Microsoft continues to be one of HP's strongest partners.'"
That is probably about right, though you never know with Microsoft.
Cheers!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
Didn't Digital Equipment Corporation invent SMB and first deliver it through Pathworks?
Japan currently. There is a pending WTO agreement in which patents will be recognized by all members.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
who has the most patents and money to ram them down everyone else's throat instead of who has the best product. Our whole system of Intellectual Property needs a serious rethinking and revision. The paradigm is broken. Litigiousness is choking innovation instead of encouraging it. Let's get behind organizations like Pubpat and Electronic Frontier Foundation to move forward.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
MS preparing to do battle
burnin
Is it time for the Open Source community to consider switching to another license model.?? Or changing the GPL....??
That sounds pretty foolish to me. You're scared of some oddball interpretation of one clase? Or that the GPL has never been tested in a court? That should make you more confident, not less. OSS has been fairly high profile for what, close to 10 years now? For all of its enemies, not one has tried to directly challenge the GPL in court. After all this time, that should tell you something - they know the GPL is unassailable, and figure that uncertainty is the best position for FUD-launching that they've got. So they'll stay out of direct challenges in order to leave the GPL a supposed "gray area".
If anything, the GPL's history tells us that it's doing very well. If OSS needs any "defensive measures", it's in keeping the kinds of paper trails that help defend against frivolous patent suits like the ones in the memo. Patent litigation and license weaknesses are two different avenues of attack, and it's the former that is the bigger threat now.
are you talking about the hp dashboard? i remember that one, was a really neat tool.
Microsoft is a big player. A stinkin'-big monster. But even the monsters can die, when swarmed with overwhelming number of individually weak enemies. Like when a rodent visits a beehive; the bees, much smaller themselves than the animal, feed it with enough poison - for the cost of lives of many of them - to kill it. Then they push it out of the hive, or seal the dead body off the rest of the hive with wax.
Not even the biggest players can survive long after making enemies all around.
I also don't think that it worked very well. The guy's fief has been increasingly marginalized over time. He owned Linux initially (in fact, at the time this memo was written), but has been pushed out of that focus as other executives rose in the company. If he did this kind of analysis, I can see why.
You seem to forget the Microsoft has lot's of lawyers and endless amounts of money. Just look at all the problems SCO has caused so far.
Now you know why all those commie, pinko, liberal, dirty hippies were protesting the WTO.
evil is as evil does
Who cares if Microsoft goes after OSS in the US? They can really only sue American companies in American courts. They'll have an uphill battle in Europe and god help them if they even attempt it in China. They'll have a tough time suing individual developers (not that it's impossible, but it certainly won't be easy, and unlike the RIAA they're likely to find a lot of the defndands won't settle quickly), so most of the US based OSS contributors can continue their work and Linus et al can simply move back to Europe if need be. And even Microsoft can't afford to start suing every company that uses Linux or Apache - they might be able to afford the lawyers but even the most MS-friendly IT department is going to have a tough time convincing a CEO to buy millions of dollars worth of software from a company that's presently suing them.
So essentially Red Hat and a few other companies go out of business and the OSS community otherwise goes on unhindered. At worst, public adoption of Linux slows a bit and already market-dominating products like Apache and sendmail continue on unabated. Microsoft's lawsuits would do very little damge and utterly destroy their public image.
They're hoarding patents to protect themselves against other patent-hoarding companies; they're not dumb enough to try to use them against OSS. This is just plain and simple FUD.
modern cars come with standard Iso connectors there must be some propriatery ones out there but I haven't seen any newer that 1990.
Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.