I confirmed with Sun's PR person for this release (at Byte Communications), that the patents are only for use with software under the CDDL license and the OpenSolaris process. The patents can be enforced against GPL software, including Linux. In contrast, the IBM grant was for any OSI-accepted license.
Bruce
Re:Well, there's a little problem with those paten
on
Sun Opens OpenSolaris.Org
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I believe that most parties that want to assert their patents are waiting for the European Union software patent law to be granted. They would not want to be poster boys against the law they need, before it is granted. And so they do not bring suits now. Sun's strategy appears to be calculated to be a spoiler for Linux - both the GPL-incompatible license and the GPL-incompatible patent grant. This is not how partners in an Open Source community proceed.
Note also that IBM's grant came just in time to drown out news about 61 European Parliament members asking to restart the software patent debate there from zero. IBM is one of the main parties lobbying for European software patents. Their grant is part of a larger strategy to convince European legislators that Open Source and software patenting are compatible, that could indeed kill Open Source, because it would leave us vulnerable to many software patent lawsuits.
Bruce
Re:Well, there's a little problem with those paten
on
Sun Opens OpenSolaris.Org
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
We're not talking about lifting code. That is covered by copyright law. Software patents cover applications of mathematical principles.
Bruce
Well, there's a little problem with those patents.
on
Sun Opens OpenSolaris.Org
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
The press releases say those patents are only for software under the CDDL license and the OpenSolaris process.
They can be enforced against GPL software including the Linux kernel.
Well, I think it's a troll because he displays very little knowledge of systems programming and confuses CPU features and OS features, and yet takes every opportunity to say something snotty and disparaging.
Companies like Sun have PR firms that will synthesize buzz if they can't get any legitimate buzz. I'd suspect something like that is afoot, or it's just an ill-informed person biting off more than he can chew.
If you wish to assert that FCC sends the hostage recovery team to prosecute teenagers for out-of-spec transmitters that interfere with private microwave links and sends their moms to jail for 5 years, you will have to show:
A news story, case log, or other written corroboration from a responsible person.
A reasonable theory regarding how harmonics from a cheap and shoddy 88-108 MHz transmitter make it up to the microwaves with enough power to overcome the link redundancy of the system and get into the directional recieving antennas.
I did write about the lack of type-approval in my article and the fact that it could get the vendor in trouble. Just to be precise, FCC has phased out type-approval and replaced with compliance certification, which essentially offloads the approval process to an outside lab.
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt - and could just toss this off as a troll.
I have a weblog called Technocrat.net and write reviews of stuff that I've bought on that weblog. The review before this was a flashlight.
I would like to get traffic on my weblog, but that's all I get out of this.
For a living, I do consulting for $300/hour, which beats the heck out of anything I could make by hawking flashlights on slashdot.
I don't plan on doing anything that will get the FCC upset with me. And even if I did, it generally takes a more severe - deliberate, repeated - offense to cause them to lift ones license over here. See FCC enforcement logs for an idea of how they behave. Really he behaves - there's just one lawyer named Riley Hollingsworth with all Amateur enforcement on his desk. And we're really glad he's there, because there used to be nobody.
I wrote to the manufacturer and said "here's my review", and he said he liked it. Most manufacturers don't mind getting 20,000 slashdot hits for their product:-)
It's illegal to use Amateur Radio for routine news gathering, because pecuniary interest communications are not allowed. It is not illegal to broadcast amateur radio transmisstions on a news program in general, certainly some were broadcast in connection with the tsunami. It is not illegal to retransmit an amateur radio transmission on part 15 equipment.
RG-6 is the part number for a 75 ohm receiving antenna cable, not a connector. You may be thinking of the "F" connector, which is the one with screw threads on the barrel and with the center "pin" actually the center conductor of the wire. My unit has a BNC.
Low power broadcasting is legal under FCC part 15 as long as you stay under radiated power limits that they set.
It doesn't get out of my valley. And try not to confuse it with narrow-band VHF, it's going to be easier to go a long distance with 5 KHz bandwidth than 75. Band openings for 90 MHz are rare, but I suppose there might be more interference then. There is, however, the FM "capture effect", so this is generally not going to be a problem.
The images are served by the sales site, that was the easy way to get them. The text is my personal review. I don't have a relationship with the manufacturer other than that I purchased the device.
It's legal under Part 15 of the FCC regulations as long as you stay under maximum radiation restrictions.
Program restrictions are not relevant for my purposes, which are not broadcasting. Those who want to open a broadcast station for their own neighborhood can potentially run into them.
It actually only tracks when you squeeze the trigger. This takes a little getting used to. The trigger is on the bottom, the mouse buttons on top, so you end up using your thumb for the mouse buttons.
It's a hardware review. I don't have any deal with Gyration. If I did, I'd tell them to offer Linux support:-) I do buy hardware from time to time, and make it work with Linux, and it's nice to tell other people that it can work with Linux and how to do it..
I did learn a lesson from this which will be applied to UserLinux. The installer was putting "usbmouse" in the modules list instead of "usbhid", it's not going to do that any longer. This is the result of evolution in Linux drivers - the HID driver came after the USB keyboard and mouse drivers, takes over their job and does it better, although this was not communicated well enough for me to find out until now. I agree that "mere mortals" have zero chance of finding this out and can only hope that their system installation program gets it right.
Many of us have filed claim forms for class-action suits before. We get somewhere between $7 and $15 back. For most of us, it's simply not worth the time.
Not that I'm a big consumer of Microsoft software in any case:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Bruce
Note also that IBM's grant came just in time to drown out news about 61 European Parliament members asking to restart the software patent debate there from zero. IBM is one of the main parties lobbying for European software patents. Their grant is part of a larger strategy to convince European legislators that Open Source and software patenting are compatible, that could indeed kill Open Source, because it would leave us vulnerable to many software patent lawsuits.
Bruce
Bruce
They can be enforced against GPL software including the Linux kernel.
Bruce
Companies like Sun have PR firms that will synthesize buzz if they can't get any legitimate buzz. I'd suspect something like that is afoot, or it's just an ill-informed person biting off more than he can chew.
Bruce
Bruce
If you wish to assert that FCC sends the hostage recovery team to prosecute teenagers for out-of-spec transmitters that interfere with private microwave links and sends their moms to jail for 5 years, you will have to show:
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt - and could just toss this off as a troll.
I have a weblog called Technocrat.net and write reviews of stuff that I've bought on that weblog. The review before this was a flashlight. I would like to get traffic on my weblog, but that's all I get out of this.
For a living, I do consulting for $300/hour, which beats the heck out of anything I could make by hawking flashlights on slashdot.
Bruce
Bruce
I wrote to the manufacturer and said "here's my review", and he said he liked it. Most manufacturers don't mind getting 20,000 slashdot hits for their product :-)
Bruce
Low power broadcasting is legal under FCC part 15 as long as you stay under radiated power limits that they set.
Bruce
Bruce
Bruce
Bruce
Program restrictions are not relevant for my purposes, which are not broadcasting. Those who want to open a broadcast station for their own neighborhood can potentially run into them.
Bruce
It you wait for DHCP to fail, 30 seconds or so, you can tell it a static IP number.
It might. The only way to tell if it's really HID compliant enough is to test it.
Bruce
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
The server seems to be staying up, click the original rather than the mirror.
Bruce
Thanks
Bruce
Not that I'm a big consumer of Microsoft software in any case :-)
Bruce