[Mono-list] something general about software patents

[Miguel de Icaza]

> Do the Ximian team or any other list members have access to some legal
> resources, so we could find out what the best policy on this is? Like I said,
> my gut feeling is that we should implement now (of our own ingenuity) and
> correct later. At least that way we can't be accused of violating patents
> knowingly -- bearing in mind that determining patent violation seems a very
> subjective process. Until then it may be best not to post patent details to
> this list.

I think you raise a good point.  I would avoid trying to look at those
patents to avoid getting any implementation ideas from there.

Virtual machines to execute secure code is not a new thing.  For
instance, Secure Tcl did this as early as 1992.  This seems to pre-date
Java, and I did not even have to research this, I just remember being on
the mailing list that discussed secure execution environments back in
that day.

Miguel.