11.16.07
Is Sun Microsystems Against Software Patents?
Have a quick look at this report from the Open Source Summit.
The resounding message of the Olswang’s and Greenberg Traurig’s Friday Open Source Summit was that software patents are bad for business. Bruce Perens’s message against software patents and that the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) should not become a reality was echoed throughout the day by numerous speakers to be restated once again during Simon Phipps closing keynote. The main argument was that these patents hinder software development because of their high transaction costs, and that Europe can maintain advantages by not allowing these patents (available in the US and elsewhere) on its shores.
The involvement of Simon Phipps is interesting in this context. As we pointed out yesterday, Sun has already embraced GPLv3 and the following newer article focuses on precisely that.
Sun Microsystems will release its xVM Ops Center virtualisation management application under the General Public Licence version 3 (GPLv3), the company revealed at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.
Can it be assumed from the two bits which are mentioned above that Sun is beginning to realise the harms of software patents? What about the recent battles with NetApp? Was it possibly a wakeup call?
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.