10.21.07
How Good is a ‘Standard’ When It’s Infected with Software Patents?
One of the major issues that people have with OOXML is its reliance on patents. Its another one of Microsoft’s suppressed truths. Standards which rely on patents raise many question and the Free Software Foundation has apparently begun addressing the issue.
The Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project oppose publication of draft-housley-tls-authz-extns as an experimental standard.
The patent application disclosed by RedPhone Security has put any free software attempting to implement these extensions in a very difficult position.
Here is the call for participation.
Much of the communication on the Internet happens between computers according to standards that define common languages. If we are going to live in a free world using free software, our software must be allowed to speak these languages.
“Financial incompatibility — that’s precisely the effect of software patents.”What kind of an twisted ecosystem would put interoperability/communication, which is intended to be open and free standards-based, in the hands of a company with ‘interoperability tax’? Financial incompatibility — that’s precisely the effect of software patents. It wasn’t long ago that The Register had an exclusive report involving a similar story. A recently-proposed IEEE wireless standard — a decent one by all means — had everyone scared of implementing it. Why? Because of patents. At the end of the say, patents prevent good products and good standards from being implemented. Nobody benefits.
Related articles:
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.