Linus Responds To Microsoft Patent Claims

An anonymous reader writes "Linus Torvalds has a sharp retort to Microsoft executives' statements in a Fortune article that Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents. In an emailed response to InformationWeek's Charlie Babcock, Torvalds writes: 'It's certainly a lot more likely that Microsoft violates patents than Linux does.' He added: 'Basic operating system theory was pretty much done by the end of the 1960s. IBM probably owned thousand of really "fundamental" patents... The fundamental stuff... has long, long since lost any patent protection.'" Torvalds also commented on Microsoft's stated intention not to sue Linux users: "They'd have to name the patents then, and they're probably happier with the FUD than with any lawsuit."

Comments

constitutional lawyers?

[Lord Ender]

Can someone please explain to me how software patents "promote science and the useful arts?"

Wouldn't a patent law which does NOT promote science and arts be unconstitutional? Or am I misreading the constitution?

Re:constitutional lawyers?

[Anonymous Coward]

No.

Software is obsolete in 5-10 years.
A patent last for 20 years.
Copyright lasts for 95 years.

When the incentive monopoly lasts well beyond the life of the invention, the effect is obviously not promoting innovation. The effect is innovation suppression and wheel reinvention.

Re:constitutional lawyers?

[Lord Ender]

We are talking about software, not a cure for AIDS.

I work in a software company, and I can assure you that we would be writing just as much software if there were no software patents.

Also, we have NEVER wondered how to write a particular algorithm, then found the solution in some patent disclosure document. Do you realize how absurd that sounds?

The Community is doing MS's work for them

[umStefa]

The more we post articles about how Microsoft is claiming patent violations, the better it is for Microsoft. This is simply a case of the more your story is in the news, the better the results for you. MS will NEVER sue anybody using Linux because the consequences of MS losing that case would be disastrous. Instead they will simply try and make managers (who in most organizations outside the tech sphere are technologically illiterate) make the following connection:

Linux = Patent Violation = Unreliable

Instead the Linux community should turn the tables on Microsoft and find a patent that MS has broken and feed the media the story that Windows users are going to get sued, hence making getting sued for using any OS a null point.

Cause of monopoly: Government granted monopoly

[openright]

If the government ever really wants to address Microsoft as a monopoly, they should realize that the underlying monopolies are granted by the government. The 95 year software publishing monopoly is granted by the government. The 20 year software design/algorithm monopoly is granted by the government. If these monopolies were reduced to reasonable terms, the tight control given to these large companies by these monopolies would be lessened.

Re:Heavens, the breaking news!

[Dynedain]

Linus's comments strike me as indistinguishable from the hundreds of comments we've had on Slashdot on this issue in the last 48 hours.

What distinguishes his comment from all of the ones here on /. is that Microsoft will listen to his comments. Being who he is and what he's done, his comments hold weight in the discussion, whereas /. postings are just background noise (this one included).

hmmmm

[EvilPoster]

IANAL, but couldnt the statements that M$ employees made about Linux infringing XXX many patents be considered slander? This was obviously done to harm the reputation of Linux, and absolutely no information was given pertaining to the actual patents that Linux violates. Perhaps, it's a different word when this is said about a product rather than an individual, but it seems like damaging the rep of a 'competing' product (with no proof) would have legal ramifications. maybe not?

Re:Sad or Telling?

[rasputin465]

Dell's move is huge for Linux as a jumping-off point, and MS (imho) is trying to keep it from looking like Linux is a real competitor.

Yeah, and the ironic thing is that, by making all these spurious accusations, M$ is only validating Linux as a viable competitor.

Re:Sad or Telling?

[flyingfsck]

Good - your company obviously wasn't serious about open source software anyway. Note that Redhat pledged to indemnify their users, so your powers that be were not really serious about anything.

Re:Sad or Telling?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, the damage is done. I work for a large financial organization that was *just* venturing outside of Microsoft operating systems and the lawyers sent out a notice today that we are to remove all traces of "open source" software, effective immediately.

I bet most institutions would be dead in the water if this advice were taken quite literally, as Microsoft used BSD code in there TCP/IP stack for a long time. Goodbye 95/98/NT/2000. Even if your not totally literal, there are tons of open source stuff that every company makes use of everyday, even if it doesn't register in the minds of the layman.

• Perl scripts that make reports? Gone, you can't run the reports without the open source interpreter.
  
• MySQL/Postgresql databases? Just because you're using Access on the front-end doesn't mean Access as the data store.
  
• Email? Even if you're running Exchange, you might still be protected with a hardware anti-spam device, which often runs a modified version of spam-assassin.
  
• Web filters/proxies? Again, most hardware based filters run off of an open source backend, in this case Squid.
  
• Web servers?
  
• File servers?
  
• Even not being able to use FireFox would upset some VIP somewhere, enough to get the decision reversed.
  

I'm sure there are more, but I believe that if all the admins of the world who got this request complied, Microsoft would be lynched in a heartbeat.

In fact, there should be a "Open Source or Die!" day where all machines that run open source software turn off. The inability to do anything would boggle the corporate mind.