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Microsoft Joins Open Invention Network (OIN), Will Grant a Royalty-Free and Unrestricted License To Its Entire Patent Portfolio To All Other OIN Members (globenewswire.com)
Microsoft said Wednesday it had joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), an open-source patent consortium. As part of it, the company has essentially agreed to grant a royalty-free and unrestricted license to its entire patent portfolio to all other OIN members. From the press release: By joining OIN, Microsoft is demonstrating its commitment to open source software (OSS) and innovation through collaborative development. With more than 2,650 members [Editor's note: the members include Google, IBM, Red Hat, and SUSE], including numerous Fortune 500 enterprises, OIN is the largest patent non-aggression community in history and represents a core set of community values related to open source licensing, which has become the norm. "Open source development continues to expand into new products and markets to create unrivaled levels of innovation. Through its participation in OIN, Microsoft is explicitly acknowledging the importance of open source software to its future growth," said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network. "Microsoft's participation in OIN adds to our strong community, which through its breadth and depth has reduced patent risk in core technologies, and unequivocally signals for all companies who are using OSS but have yet to join OIN that the litmus test for authentic behavior in the OSS community includes OIN participation."
Erich Andersen, Corporate Vice President and Chief IP Counsel at Microsoft, said, "Microsoft sees open source as a key innovation engine, and for the past several years we have increased our involvement in, and contributions to, the open source community. We believe the protection OIN offers the open source community helps increase global contributions to and adoption of open source technologies. We are honored to stand with OIN as an active participant in its program to protect against patent aggression in core Linux and other important OSS technologies." Further reading: Why Microsoft may be relinquishing billions in Android patent royalties.
Erich Andersen, Corporate Vice President and Chief IP Counsel at Microsoft, said, "Microsoft sees open source as a key innovation engine, and for the past several years we have increased our involvement in, and contributions to, the open source community. We believe the protection OIN offers the open source community helps increase global contributions to and adoption of open source technologies. We are honored to stand with OIN as an active participant in its program to protect against patent aggression in core Linux and other important OSS technologies." Further reading: Why Microsoft may be relinquishing billions in Android patent royalties.
Microsoft had been operating a patent shakedown against open source for a while now. Why is Microsoft doing this? Doesn't add up.
are lawyers. I can't find it in my heart to grieve for them.
It's a trap!
#DeleteFacebook
This doesn't pass the smell test. They definitely have an angle here, we just don't know what it is.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
This is a brilliant move by Microsoft. This gives them full access to OIN software, without having to give anything away in return. Technically they have to allow other OIN members access to their patented software, but everyone knows nobody in the OSS community wants anything to do with M$ code, so in practice, they get everything and give nothing.
No, the OIN cross licenses everything to all it's members. Joining it is free, you just have to agree to cross license all of your relevant patents as well. I still think it's a trap, but it's not a cartel.
All those who are sceptical towards Microsoft's Open Source commitment appears to fail to realise that Microsoft under Nadella leadership is a very different company than during the Ballmer era (or the Gates era before that). Today the focus is all about subscription services and the cloud. They are making sure everything works fine with their cloud and subscription services, so they can rake in money that way. Want to move your Linux services to the cloud? Microsoft wants you to choose them instead of Amazon or Google so you realise how good all their other services are and start paying for them as well. Are you a developer? Well, then Microsoft want you to know that they have all the Open Source tools you need to run your applications in their cloud. Need a database? Move your MySQL database to Microsoft's cloud and take advantage of all their other database solutions while you are there. And so on. The software you can install yourself (like Windows) are nowdays just stepping stones to push you into their cloud, where you pay a few bucks a month instead of a bit more every few years.
...so what happens to all tech that now depended on them? There must be some future protection, right? How does it work?
4wdloop
I agree with what you are saying, however I think the business environment has changed, not so much Microsoft. Microsoft has always been about maximizing profits. Twenty years ago they were the big 800 lb gorilla. They did what they wanted to make more money. Today they are competing in a field of equals and they are trying to remain relevant with the new computing paradigms. So now they have to behave nicely to maximize profits. They decided that joining OIN was worth more than the royalties they would have collected from OIN members. I believe they will still try to collect royalties from non-OIN companies. It is all about the money.
And half the time I say back (one has to pause to breath):
Microsoft uses the word "innovation" because so many people are conditioned to assume it means "technical innovation" whereas (during the 1990s, especially) Microsoft was mainly good at business method innovation subtype: limiting their competitor's air supply through rampant violations of trade law, where enforcement never caught up in time to make a true difference.
Everyone now has access to "Clippy"!
Does this mean Linux can now support ExFat? (the new file system that replaced Fat32 as standard for things like memory cards)
the Open Invention Network (OIN),
Shouldn't that be the Open Invention NetworK (OINK)?
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Microsoft needs Linux.
Does Linux need Microsoft?
Simple, all these patents have served their purpose, everybody already paid up. All the Android vendors & others like TomTom etc etc.
There was no more money to be made from these patents, and so making them 'free' was the only things left to do.
Bonus points for looking like a bad-ass company; the NEW Microsoft.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
You're acting like XP is some weird outlier. How about if they were on Ubuntu 4, Red Hat 2, or CentOS 3 instead? All of which were released 3-4 years after XP. The vendors for those operating systems don't support those anymore either. They'd tell you to update, and failure to update is completely on you. No wonder you posted as AC.
Well, it's been 20 years so far, so....