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Open-Source ID Project Awaits Microsoft's Blessing
An anonymous reader writes to mention that an open-source alternative to Microsoft's CardSpace tool has been on hold for months while they await patent blessing from the Redmond software giant. "While CardSpace is available on Windows, one goal of the Higgins project is to cover other operating systems. Higgins wants to offer an open-source alternative that works on Windows and on alternatives such as Linux and Mac OS X. The application would work similarly to CardSpace."
and reap the PR bonanza if you should get sued.
Never mind waiting for an ok on a patent license, I waited for over a year for
Fraunhofer/Thomson to get of their asses but unless you are hitachi or so they
will simply ignore you.
MP3 Search Engine
And people in Hell are waiting for ice water.
Seriously, I know Microsoft loves to talk a lot about interoperability with OSS projects, but most of it seems to be PR-driven rather than reality-driven.
One thing that is not clear to me is whether these "promises" not to sue on various patents have any legal standing. IANAL so perhaps there is some principle of "public statement of intent" that would contrain their actions, but with no signed contract or agreement in place not to sue couldn't a management change bring about a new policy on those patents?
I think the MAD principle is still what's holding back a patent war in the US (plus a hot and heavy patent fight harmful to the industry might spur software patent reform) and I can't see why Microsoft, as a corporate entity, should be trusted in the least.
Plus, the principle of legal intimidation is still all that is really needed here, not actual victory in a patent case - most open source projects don't have the resources to defend themselves from even a non-valid challenge. That's why MAD is effective where even legal safety might not be - sort of a "don't beat up on the weak kid or you'll start a brawl" effect.
The problem with open source in a legal sense (at least in the US) is that open source volunteer projects need some condition where they CAN'T be sued, and as I understand it that simply isn't possible under the US legal system where anyone can sue anyone else for anything. The suit may not be valid but until that's decided it can go ahead in any case and the accused MUST respond or risk a default judgement against them. Patents make being on unshakable ground impossible in general for anything nontrivial, and once a project is deprived of the ability to assume an absolutly invulnerable position (except not doing the project) the waters get murky fast.
"I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
Yeah I'm sure they'll give their blessing......... and the Pope's Muslim.
Relocating to San Francisco / Palo Alto... Hire me?
1) liquidate all your capital assets
3) put proceeds in a bank account, offshore, anonymously if possible, or hide it real well somewhere (bury the gold bullion somewhere)
4) violate the patent by promoting your project
5) sleep every night in a different location. Do not repeat a location unless you've been to at least 364 other locations previously (or better yet, 364*2+1)
6) be prepared to move to a warm location like San Diego, Mexico, Hawaii, where you can bum on the street while your project takes off, becomes so big and gains eventual acceptance like anti-DRM-ed media is about to.
Somewhere along the way, if you are married, divorce your wife, pay her alimony till she gets a job, and leave some cash for the children. Only in this 'revolutionary' manner will you get a blessing from MS. Of course, whether you should do this, is entirely up to your imagination.
'A lie if repeated often enough, becomes the truth.' - Goebbels
What's the difference between the Higgins project and OpenID?
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
Why do i get a feeling they wont ever get it, and this is just the beginning.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Folks, the whole intent of "InfoCards" is to provide an easy way for users to authenticate regardless of platform/OS. There is nothing proprietary about InfoCards."CardSpace" is a feature of Windows that will help Windows users manage their "InfoCards." MSFT hopes and expects that a variety of organizations (commercial, govt, non-profits etc.) will issue and accept InfoCards and that software developers will build tools/UI's/apps for managing InfoCards on a variety of platforms. The whole premise of InfoCards is to make it easier for users to manage their credentials in a secure way so they don't end up using low-security passwords (mymomsbirthday). It's fairly cool the way it works. The user doesn't actually send any personally identifiable information across teh wire. Here's an example of how it might work: 1. User goes to www.amazon.com. 2. User creates an Amazon account, creating a user name and a password. 3. Amazon asks user if they'd like to get an "InfoCard" which would make it easy and more securely log-on to Amazon next time. 4. User says yes. 5. Amazon sends (via Web standards, nothing proprietary to MSFT or Windows) the user an encrypted token. The token might come with an Amazon-branded digital "card" that visually represents the Amazon account and token. 6. The next time the user goes to Amazon he/she can log-on to Amazon using the InfoCard instead of user name and password. When this happens they send the token issued to them by Amazon where Amazon checks to see if it matches their records.If it does they can access their Amazon account. The advantage of this appraoch are several. Users no longer have to create/remember numerous passwords which is a big convenience. The Amazon's of the world like it because with encrypted tokens it is much harder to password guess to access accounts. No more simple/easy to guess passwords. Ultimately this reduces online fraud and saves us all money. No system is 100% secure but this would help. My understanding is that OpenID and others might create systems that interoperate with/support "InfoCards" which would be a great thing.