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Patent troll launches desktop Linux lawsuit. Is Microsoft involved?

Sometimes you just have to sing. I read Groklaw's report on a new lawsuit launched by IP Innovation (subsidiary of Acacia) against Novell and Red Hat over Linux desktop infringements of its "a User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects" patent and just wanted to break out into Stephen Sondheim:

Isn't it rich? Isn't it queer? Losing my timing this late In my career? And where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don't bother - they're here.

Why clowns? Well, the more Groklaw digs into this, the more it looks like the ultimate patent troll/clown, Microsoft, may be behind this all. Some might say that Ballmer always sings on cue, and surely his commentary about Red Hat last week may be coincidence or simply poor timing, but Monsieur le Troll must be smiling, regardless.

Groklaw writes:… Read more

Mark Webbink to Steve Ballmer: We have a problem and the problem is...you

I love Mark Webbink. His post today calling out Microsoft's hypocrisy on patents is classic. Black pot? Meet kettle that so far is looking bright and shiny silver, whatever Microsoft's attempts to rub some smudge onto it.

I know you are quite concerned that Red Hat is not showing due respect for your (unidentified) patents, but it strikes me as a little rich that you or Microsoft should be lecturing anyone on the proper respect for the patents of others given all of the following parties that believe that Microsoft does not respect their patents....

It's irrefragable … Read more

Applying the principles of open source to Software as a Service

Chromatic has a great post analyzing how the Free Software Foundation's "Four Freedoms" apply to Software as a Service (SaaS). The answer? Not very well.

Should you care? I think so. The benefits of SaaS also point to its greatest flaw: it's the ultimate lock-in scenario when it comes to your data, even though it "liberates" the user from software. In fact, it's this very liberation that creates the problem. If you don't have the software, you really don't have the data, no matter the vendor's data policy. My data qua data is only as useful as the software used to open it up and read it.

Chromatic writes:… Read more

Apple's next 'Leopard' release may be at risk due to NetApp's ZFS lawsuit

According to Computerworld, Apple's reported support for ZFS in its upcoming Leopard release may enmesh it in NetApp's legal catfight with Sun:

Apple Inc.'s upcoming Leopard will support the open-source ZFS file system, the company confirmed today -- a move that could embroil it in a patent-infringement lawsuit between Sun Microsystems and storage software maker Net[work] Appliance. Leopard, also known as Mac OS X 10.5, will include ZFS (Zettabyte File System), albeit in a small way. "Apple will provide limited ZFS support in Leopard," said company spokesman Anuj Nayar today. "It will only be available as a read-only option from the command line."

This, however, is allegedly only the tip of the iceberg of Apple's adoption of ZFS, making the outcome of NetApp's lawsuit important to more than just Sun.… Read more

IBM seeks to patent...offshoring (???)

Oh, my. Sometimes the cheek of the proprietary world just becomes a tad too much. That's what I thought when I read this on CIO.com about IBM attempting to patent offshoring. You know, that practice that requires hefty innovation and a large investment of time and R&D dollars?

At times it's depressing to live in the United States when such buffoonery is commonplace.

Stephanie Overby at CIO.com writes:

Those new to the world of IT services might be taken aback by a vendor bold enough to propose that it had invented this unique process called "offshoring." Those familiar with IBM know it?s just another day at the office.… Read more

Speaking of Linux and the spirit of open source

It's almost shameful how paltry Novell's understanding of open source is. I don't say this to denigrate anyone personally, but when I read things like this from Groklaw I just can't understand how Novell manages to say "open source" with a straight face.

I'm all for using open source as a capitalist weapon. But this is the opposite of that. It's an attack on open source by a company that claims to espouse it. And it relies on deliberate falsehoods to propagate its still anemic success.

Pamela writes:

Justin Steinman reveals that to market their SUSE Linux Enterprise Server against Red Hat they ask, "Do you want the Linux that works with Windows? Or the one that doesn't?" It's just appalling. Let me ask you developers who are kernel guys a question: When you contributed code to the kernel, was it your intent that it be used against Red Hat?… Read more

Jews, Gentiles, and the Open Source Definition

I was read Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews today in the New Testament (Bible) and stumbled across some interesting background, background which resonates today in the open-source community.

Paul wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews shortly after returning to Jerusalem to find many of the Jewish Christians still "zealous of the law" (See Acts 21:20), despite roughly 10 years having passed since the conference at Jerusalem which determined that certain ordinances of the law of Moses (e.g., circumcision) were not necessary for salvation of the gentile Christians. Paul then wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews to try to re-frame the faith of the Jewish Christians away from old ordinances.

Being something of an "open-source Pharisee" myself, it's fascinating to see much the same phenomenon roughly 2000 years later in the software industry. I'll explain.… Read more

How much is Microsoft's patent protection worth?

I was reading Dave Rosenberg's commentary on Novell's patent deal with Microsoft and got to thinking about how much "protection" there actually is in the relationship. Novell has been selling this protection hard to its Suse prospects ("Linux is scary because Microsoft might sue. But we have a deal with Microsoft..."). Extortion? Sure. But for some it seems that integrity has a price.

For those who can't be bought, just how much protection are you missing? Not very much, it seems to me, and to a range of open-source legal experts I e-mailed to solicit their opinions.

I asked them to weigh in on the matter. Here's what I heard.… Read more

The GPL to get its day in court

It seems that most of the world's open source-related lawsuits emerge from Utah, for whatever reason. First there was Caldera vs. Microsoft (which, of course, didn't have anything to do with open source, but for Caldera's inclusion). Then there was SCO. Somewhere along the way there was Linksys, which didn't have anything more to do with Utah than that I used to visit its offices, and I'm from Utah.

And now we have BusyBox (through the Software Freedom Law Center) suing Monsoon Multimedia, with BusyBox's project founder, Erik Andersen, a former colleague of mine … Read more