lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1998]   [Dec]   [20]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
    /
    SubjectRe: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux
    Date
    From

    In message <m0zrm0I-0007U1C@the-village.bc.nu>, Alan Cox writes:

    > _used to_. There is now an entire profession of writing patents in such
    > a way that even when they expire you cannot possibly reconstruct what they
    > were on about in full.

    Isn't that the same technique used to write software licenses?
    Less a license, more a store of legal ammunition.

    > In the current world trade secrets are less evil than patents. If
    > someone discovers something clever and patents it then they get a
    > little piece of paper granting them monopoly power. These are then
    > traded to create a little cabal of vendors who 'compete' in a very
    > minimal fashion and lock the entire market down while ripping
    > customers off

    Basically this is real competition. If you can figure out how
    company A did something, you are free to copy or innovate. If you
    copy, you are unlikely to unseat them without resorting to illegal
    tactics like dumping, etc. Your best choice is to innovate something
    better, and that is far more beneficial to the market.


    --
    Shannon - shendrix@widomaker.com - www.widomaker.com - Linux 2.0.x
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Criminals today have guns. Soon they will have computers and other
    weapons of mass destruction." -Janet Reno

    -
    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/

    \
     
     \ /
      Last update: 2005-03-22 13:46    [W:4.414 / U:0.792 seconds]
    ©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site