[Mono-list] Re: Sleepless at Patentland...

[Tom Gall]

<de-cloak>

This reminds me of the classic Stanly Kubrick movie, "Dr Strangelove or
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". 

Software Patents are like the Bomb. No one likes them. They seem to only
be used a small number of people to control the larger population
through fear and worse when they go off the damage can be quite severe.

That said, I have the following feelings about the project. I am for the
most part unafraid of any patents in Microsoft's portfolio. Sure they
could try to put the screws to us but those screws will generate ALOT of
press for us. 

By attacking open source this year, Micro$oft gave us the opportunity to
educate the world on open source. If they attack us with patents, I
think we will receive another opportunity to speak out against software
patents.

So what if we run afoul of a patent. That doesn't mean we can't find a
way around it by either coming up with a better approach or falling back
to a different way as other folks have pointed out.

Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> 
> >   I've read the article you pointed. But the problem I'm still worried is
> > about NOT KNOWING which patents we have to avoid.

I wouldn't worry about what you don't know. Just worry that you document
what you do know. That establishes prior art.
 
<snip>

> So we have a couple of options:
> 
>         * Do nothing, Stop Coding.
> 
>         * Actively implement the CLI, and find evidence of prior art.
> 
> I am doing the later.

Well said!

> Miguel.


-- 
Regards,

Tom

--------------------------------------------------------------
PPC64 Maintainer             "My heart is human, my blood is boiling,
tgall@rochcivictheatre.org    my brain IBM" -- Mr Roboto, Styxx