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openSUSE Hobbled By Microsoft Patents

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the or-at-least-disfigured dept.

kripkenstein writes "openSUSE 10.2 no longer enables ClearType (which would improve the appearance of fonts). The reason given on the openSUSE mailing list for not enabling it is, 'this feature is covered by several Microsoft patents and should not be activated in any default build of the library.' As reported on and discussed, this matter may be connected to the Microsoft-Novell deal. If so, Novell should have received a license for the Microsoft patents, assuming the deal covered all relevant patents. Does the license therefore extend only to SUSE, but not openSUSE?"

13 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Prior art by Ph33r+th3+g(O)at · · Score: 5, Informative

    Steve Gibson pointed out decades-old prior art that would invalidate the Cleartype patent (if our patent system weren't corrupt) several years ago.

    --
    I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
    1. Re:Prior art by pikine · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm afraid the decades-old Apple II and IBM PC is not prior art. Pixels are either on or off for Apple II and IBM PC's CGA displays, so they apparently don't (and can't) care too much about color fringing. Sub-pixel font rendering on LCD screen deals with 256 shades for each sub-pixel, and the emphasis is on how to adjust sub-pixel brightness to reduce color fringing.

      This is explained in Steve Gibson's Turning Theory into Practice. Sub-pixel font rendering is not the same as sub-pixels on CGA displays. The ideas are related, but the plumbing is different.

      Perhaps I'm misleading in saying that CGA is not prior art of ClearType. I haven't actually read the patents of ClearType, so I obviously cannot tell; I'm basing my claim solely on Steve's webpage alone.

      --
      I once had a signature.
    2. Re:Prior art by AJWM · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Apple II didn't have a CGA. Colors were generated by dot-timing the luminance signal into an NTSC composite monitor (read, TV), faking out the color decoding in the monitor. Subpixel rendering was done by reversing that to choose the appropriate color to generate the desired dot timing. On a monochrome monitor these showed up as higher-resolution dots than the nominal pixels in display memory.

      Go look at the circuit diagram for an Apple II, for pete's sake. It's not that complicated, maybe a dozen or so 74-series chips plus the memory and CPU.

      Clear type uses exactly the same idea -- pick the color to activate the desired combination of R, G and/or B stripes in the LCD pixel -- i.e. activate the desired sequence of horizontal dots by color choice.

      --
      -- Alastair
  2. Novell is the Judas Goat. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think Novell has become an wholly owned subsidiary of MSFT and is being used for the express purpose of setting up precedents and creating more and more FUD. I have seen a version of anti-aliasing and sub-pixel addressing way back when in, of all places, grc.com.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Novell is the Judas Goat. by duncanmhor · · Score: 5, Informative

      Judas Goat - used at an abbatoir to lull animals into a false sense of security.

  3. Prior art? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have not been to GRC.com for a long time, I quickly grabbed the URL and posted it here in another thread. Looks like that site cites a long list of prior art. Makes the OpenSUSE's decision even more suspect.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  4. anti-aliasing makes me need glasses by stokessd · · Score: 4, Informative

    That might be a good thing(tm). In many cases I prefer non anti-aliased fonts. I have a nice LCD with a DVI connection for a clear picture, then I'm supposed to fuzzy it up? Anti-aliasing lakes me think I need glasses in many cases.

    Sheldon

  5. Exactly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cleartype is just sub-pixel AA which existed long before MS ever used it for font rendering. Bytecode type hinting is patented by (IIRC) Apple, it is usually disabled in Freetype and and an alternative (auto-hinting) method used instead.

    Apples and oranges, the bug reporter is confused or trolling.

  6. It's only the filtering by oergiR · · Score: 5, Informative

    AFAICT, subpixel rendering is not disabled, only the 5-tap filter that's supposed to reduce colour fringes. See http://www.grc.com/cttech.htm. Apparently this is one of the things Microsoft has patented, and I haven't seen any "prior art" for this specific technique. In my humble opinion disabling the filter is not much of a loss as it just makes fonts look fuzzier.

  7. Freetype library is GPL by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

    As a result, if you hold a license for a patent that is required to redistribute/sell Freetype (or any piece of software covered by the GPL), then, to comply with the GPL you have two options you must EITHER: (1) not distribute the software, OR (2) the patent license must permit anyone's free use

    The relevant GPL section is the preamble To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all. , and under Section 7 of the GNU General Public License: For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

    This means for instance, that Novell would not be free to provide users of SuSE the benefit of a patent license to use a certain feature of a GPL'ed library or software program, and deny that feature to openSuSE users.

  8. Clear-Type replacement by Kim0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    They could just use this replacement, which is not patented:
    http://oyhus.no/SubLCD.html

  9. Re:never so by oergiR · · Score: 5, Informative
    Mod parent up.

    The main developer of FreeType decided to disable the filter in September. The Novell deal was later and had nothing to do with this.

  10. Licenses. by miguel · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just to clarify the thesis of the post.

    Novell has not received any licenses to any patents, and neither has SUSE, nor OpenSUSE.

    The Microsoft-Novell agreement is about not suing customers over any potential patent infringement.

    Since OpenSUSE is a community effort, and it is used by people that might not be customers of Novell, removing code that is known to infringe on a patent is the correct thing to do (same policy applies to Mono).