01.22.08
The Pro-Software Patents Lobbyists Come to London
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. […] some large company will patent some obvious thing […] take as much of our profits as they want.”
–Bill Gates
Owing to the fact that software patents are not legal in the United Kingdom, Brits can conveniently ignore all (or most) of Microsoft’s drivel regarding Linux. This could, however, change if Microsoft can successfully change the law. Apparently, we have already seen the company changing laws in France and blackmailing the Danish authorities to legalise software patents. Never underestimate the power of the “Microsoft ecosystem”. The OOXML fiasco is a good reminder of this because Microsoft has used its business partners, who share a financial agenda, in order to promote OOXML. In Sweden’s case, this resulted in a form of bribery, too. We were last reminded of this just 3 days ago.
Here is something to watch out for. It’s part of a recurring pattern in Britain where businesses try to lobby in favour of software patents for their own selfish interests. See how they describe their ambition:
From the lawyers point of view: “Many American businesses are adept at using software patents to their advantage”.
Remember how Microsoft used to view software patents before it became large. A USPTO-style philosophy mustn’t invade other countries just because of its size merits. █
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.