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Re: [News] EU/Microsoft - Patent Mess, Not Good News

____/ Mark Kent on Friday 26 October 2007 16:19 : \____

> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> ____/ Mark Kent on Friday 26 October 2007 15:05 : \____
>> 
>>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>> Let's Make a Deal - The MS-EU Settlement
>>>> 
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>| The patent part is terrible. Worse than terrible. They are not blocked
>>>>| from offering patent deals, only constrained as to how much to charge for
>>>>| a license, which is not and never was the issue. So they'll beef up those
>>>>| initiatives, I'm sure. However, the good part is that they were compelled
>>>>| to separate the patent license offer out and make it optional. Thanks,
>>>>| but no thanks.
>>>>| 
>>>>| [...]
>>>>| 
>>>>| I'm guessing Microsoft lawyers are high fiving each other, having
>>>>| snatched an important victory from utter and total defeat. The rest is
>>>>| excellent, of course, and in no way do I mean to detract from the hard
>>>>| work and persistence that the EU Commission has shown. However, I don't
>>>>| think they understand how seriously broken the US patent system is
>>>>| currently, and how easy it is to abuse it, or they don't feel it's their
>>>>| job to fix the US problems, or how central patents are to Microsoft's
>>>>| current strategy against FOSS.
>>>> `----
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071022114731199
>>>> 
>>>> It's truly a shame.
>>> 
>>> Except software patents are not valid in the EU, so it doesn't matter.
>>  
>> A new article from Aussie suggests that it'll drive projects such as Samba
>> to Europe. And they say Microsoft is good for America? Many people have
>> warned for at least a year that USPTO drives all the innovation elsewhere.
>> The patent mountain erupted a couple of months ago, so a gradual migration
>> of developers is likely.
>> 
> 
> I suspect that most of the developers will not move, they'll just have
> to shift their efforts onto areas where Microsfot do not have a patent
> claim.
> 
> The real work will have to move outside of Nafta and Australia.  Good
> news for European, MiddleEastern, African, Russian, Indian, Asian
> developers, though.

Hiser, who is very involved with that sort of stuff, has just left an
intriguing comment:
http://boycottnovell.com/2007/10/26/agreement-exodus/#comment-2445

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

Roy S. Schestowitz      | "I feed my 3 penguins with electricity and love"
http://Schestowitz.com  |  GNU is Not UNIX  |     PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
      http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine

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