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Date:      Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:23:34 -0500
From:      WizLayer <wizlayer@gmail.com>
To:        freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org, jan.husar@skosi.org
Subject:   Re: BSD folks position on GPL, Novell, IBM, SCO, and MS...
Message-ID:  <200611282323.35814.wizlayer@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <541b7a870611281721o13fdb271q2797e419c75d9b0b@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <197873.77889.qm@web50302.mail.yahoo.com> <541b7a870611281721o13fdb271q2797e419c75d9b0b@mail.gmail.com>

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On Tuesday 28 November 2006 20:21, Jan Husar proclaimed:

>> On 11/29/06, Tim Clewlow <tim1timau@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > From: Mike Hauber <mchauber@gmx.net>
> > > >
> > > > What if Sun pulls a SCO with their Java?  If IBM pulls a SCO with
> > > > their contributions?  If Novell pulls a SCO with their
> > > > contributions?  I would like to think that their intentions are
> > > > honest, but after SCO, and then MSs very weird deal with Novell,
> > > > who knows?  (and by the way, is IBM working with the BSD community
> > > > as well?  I hadn't read anything on that, and would be interested
> > > > to know more if they are).
> > > 
> > >This is just a speculation and really lame one ;/
> > >

BTW...  It was not my intention to say IBM and Sun are going to turn around 
and do MsBrides.  My point was just how much can we trust companies that 
contribute, when there _are_ MsBrides out there?  Shouldn't there be some 
type of written agreement stating that they agree not to pull any SCOs?

I'll keep my reservations for Novell, though.  That was just too weird for my 
taste (and apparently so for most GPLees).

> > Microsoft appear to be claiming that the idea of using one type of
> > computer to build an operating system for a different type of computer is
> > their idea. Unfortunately (for Microsoft) this practice has been known in
> > the "public domain" for decades. This claim would be laughable if it
> > wasnt serious - instead it is just pathetic.
> >
> > Tim.
> >
> You hited the target, but as you prolly know also double-click is
> patentable....
>
> ;(
>
> Jan
>

Something came up on CNET about the patent process being reviewed by the 
Supreme Court.  Now I don't look so legally dumb...  Yeah right.  :)  Link 
may wrap:

http://news.com.com/Supreme%2BCourt%2Bweighs%2Bobviousness%2Bof%2Bpatents/2100-1014_3-6138969.html?tag=nefd.lede

I don't know how old this is (the source doesn't include a date, either), but 
at least it's being looked at:

http://www.point-of-law.com/report.asp?id=467&page=1

Us poor folk can't defend ourselves if our defense is going to cost us $2 
million and up per claim...  And what even makes it worse is that now, 
there's OSS insurance companies.  Gee...  Just in case the open source 
communities turn out to be a bunch of thieves, I better get me some 
insurance.  That's sickening.  People can't even be transparently honest 
these days without getting mud/fud thrown at them, and there are lions, 
tigers, and bears out there who are actually willing to take advantage of the 
FUD by ripping off their piggy banks while they're not looking? :)  I'm 
really not trying to rant, here.  I'm just trying to figure out a way to be 
productive about it.

Is this something that we should be shrugging off or is this something we need 
to be openly fighting against?  If it's something that we should be fighting, 
then how to go about it?  Or is this something we just have to wait out and 
suffer the publicity blows until the FUDster's lights fade, and hope we won't 
owe our inheritances to a bunch of lawyers in the process?

I found out from Groklaw that NYU is doing a study review of patents and 
supposedly MS has agreed to be reviewed along with IBM and a few others.  
There weren't any links provided, but that should be interesting.

Mike



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