MS claims Linux violates 235 patents Options

[impala454]

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/for...33867/index.htm?

could be a huge cluster for either side. will be interesting to see what happens.

[impala454]

I think the free software people argument that "all software is just mathematical algorithms, and therefore not patentable" is a friggin joke. if they want to give away their own software, that's their business. But giving away other people's software (if that's what they're doing), is wrong.

[Seeker]

Microsoft has been saying for years that Linux and other open source software violates their patents, but they have yet to announce which patents exactly that they're violating. Until an announcement is made they can't sue anyone. The open source community is sitting around going "Microsoft keeps going on and on about patent infringements, but they haven't told us what we need to change."

First Microsoft has to announce which patents are being violated, and give developers a reasonable amount of time to fix them. Until this is done Microsoft will be laughed out of every court.

Second, Microsoft would never attack Linux as it is backed by huge corporations such as IBM, NEC, HP, Redhat, Novell etc. of which Microsoft is violating some of above-mentioned companies patents. If Microsoft sues one of the above then you can bet that one of those companies will counter-sue Microsoft for the patents Microsoft is violating. In the end it wouldn't be worth the trouble for Microsoft.

Third, SCO (backed and funded by Microsoft) tried and failed to sue IBM over patent infringement and Linux code snippets. It was a long drawn-out multi-year ordeal and SCO ended up being very embarrassed. It was a huge win for the open source community. Apparently Microsoft didn't learn much from that fiasco.

[impala454]

yeah there's nothing specific listed, but they broke it down into categories. it'll be interesting to see if/when they provide specifics. the article is long but a pretty interesting read.

But he does break down the total number allegedly violated - 235 - into categories. He says that the Linux kernel - the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware - violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces - essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up - run afoul of another 65, he claims. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.

[Seeker]

I bet I know one of the infringed patents: the sudo command, haha.

I remember reading an article a month or two ago about Microsoft patenting the sudo command, which has been available in *nix operating systems for decades.

I wonder how many of their "patent infringements" are patents like the above, where prior art has obviously existed for decades.

Most court cases concerning software patents are thrown out due to prior art or what they call "concurrent development". It's very hard to win a patent infringement case when it involves software.

Also, I forgot to mention that contributors to Linux and open source live all around the globe in a variety of countries. If Microsoft wins then development would simply take place in countries where patent laws are lax.

It will be interesting to see how bad Microsoft fails.

[zetec]

yeah i saw this too, and the sudo patent. I honestly think microsoft isn't going to do anything; rather they're pointing this out to scare companies into using microsoft products rather than free alternatives because "we might sue them into oblivion in the future" (sure you will.)

as a sidenote, steve ballmer is one of the biggest jackasses I've ever seen, regardless of his position in microsoft.

[impala454]

well there's lots of similiar cases out there, stuff like video/audio compression codecs & algorithms. if there is ever a large suit about anything related to software patents, the outcome will set a precedent for all kinds of future software suits.

personally I don't know what the solution is... if Programmer Bob came up with a new video codec that is Super HD 80000000p resolution with 17 channel surround sound and can be streamed over a tin can and string network, he deserves to make tons of money off of it. If a company develops some innovative new interface for a device, they deserve to make money off of it, without it being copied by others for free.

I honestly don't see the draw for anyone programming under the GNU. Free software puts all of us out of a job.

[zetec]

just for the record, the mozilla foundation made something like $45 million last year.

[Seeker]

Mozilla makes 55+ million a year off of firefox, and their software is open source and free.

[chook]

Microsoft would get sued back hard if they tried to pull this shit.

[zetec]

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS6670466370.html

good speculation involving microsoft having to abide by GPL terms since they're now a "linux distributor" (novell)

[impala454]

there's a part of the article I posted talking about that too. that they have/had some deal with novell to distribute linux, but that they wouldn't be bound by the GPL because of the way it was distributed or something.

[impala454]

Mozilla makes 55+ million a year off of firefox, and their software is open source and free.

Yeah it's all Google ad money. The problem I have with it, is Mozilla is a corporation and has twisted execs just like any other. You have the developers who are devoting their time for free for whatever reason (to better themselves or because they want to bring down IE, or whatever), and these corporate A-holes are reaping all the benefits. Which IMHO is pretty ironic. Most of the open source junkies do it to fight the large corporate machine, and in Firefox's case, they're actually helping it.

[FORSAKENR320]

NSFW: http://www.jackgregory.com/images/Miss%20Piggy.jpg

[Seeker]

Microsoft just announced they won't be suing Linux users.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showAr...cleID=199501831