Open source community welcomes Microsoft patent pledge
,----[ Quote ]
| The vendor has used strong language in the past to denounce open source,
| arguing that it "destroys" intellectual property and comparing Linux to
| a " cancer".
|
| [...]
|
| Bob Sutor, vice president of standards and open source at IBM, called
| the initiative a "nice start", but warned that Microsoft still has to
| deal with a legacy of opposing open standards.
|
| [...]
|
| Simon Phipps, chief open source officer at Sun Microsystems, also
| welcomed the initiative. "This is what open source needs: freedom from
| fear of attack," he wrote on his blog.
|
| But Phipps warned that the Microsoft document contains some loopholes
| that could allow its lawyers to file legal patent claims.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2164406/open-source-community-welcomes
Dana also explained why they may have reliquished those software patents,
which were never supposed to exist _in the first place_.
Patents are not property
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft was seeking to get its Internet technologies, which are
| built into Vista, the next version of Windows, made into Internet
| standards. The RAND controversy was an impediment to that effort. So
| Microsoft made a business decision. It didn't give up its property. It
| sacrificed its monopoly. In hopes of getting something of value in return.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=787
|
|
