Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 20 Dec 1998 20:51:33 -0500 | From | David Feuer <> | Subject | Re: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux |
| |
"Albert D. Cahalan" wrote: > > > I am kind of monitoring this list until I get up to speed but could you > > go a little further in depth explaining some of the issues involved with > > the patents on these technologies? Also are the expiration dates on > > these patents known? I would appreciate it alot as I am sure others > > would. > > Well... > > >> IPv6 routing Several good algorithms are prohibited. > > Alan Cox mentioned this to me when I pointed him to a nice trie-based > system for keeping track of routes. > > >> compression Arithmetic encoding (bzip), MPEG, audio, GIF... > > Oringinal bzip uses arithmetic encoding for the second stage, which works > better than the huffman encoding currently used. The same exact problem > hits jpeg, with everyone forced to use the inferior compression.
Are all arithmetic coders patented? This is evil.
> > Many kinds of perceptual compression algorithms for audio and video > are patented. They remove the data that humans don't notice, and get > far better compression. > > GIF compression is an old and well known problem. Lots of people > violate it though. PNG can do a better job with plain images, but > the MNG animation format is not yet well supported. I doubt this > one has many years left on it. > > >> encryption Idea, RSA, some kinds of key exchange... > > PGP hit some problems here. RSA (the company) holds many. > > >> color management The gimp can't do it. Damn. > > At least 3 patents hit us here. The gimp site has a web page about it.
Could you explain?
> > >> filesystem updates We can't do delayed ordered writes. > > Old AT&T patent. > > >> OSPF The IETF is not happy with this one! > >> quality-of-service Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) QoS > > Both IBM patents. Cisco has a few nasty ones too AFAIK. > These make it hard to do some networking stuff. > > >> register allocation Ever wonder why VC++ code can beat g++ code? > > Various people AFAIK. Something about graph coloring...
?????????
> > >> PPP Can't return a useful error code to the other side. > > Use grep on the kernel source. Motorola holds this one.
What???? Error return is obviously not a new idea! It's been around since...... hmmmm.... telegraph times?
> > >> drivers/net/zlib.c Must use code with nonlinear time requirements. > > 2 guys hold it. Not serious. You can't do gzip with a nice time bound. > > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
-- David Feuer feuer@his.com dfeuer@binx.mbhs.edu Open Source: Think locally; act globally.
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |