11.18.08

Microsoft Insults the People of China, Oman, the Newly-elected President

Posted in Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, FUD, Deception, Bill Gates, America, Asia at 9:21 am by Roy Schestowitz

“No less than Bill Gates himself said in a recent Fortune article that Microsoft competes better against Linux in China when there’s piracy than when there isn’t.

“So, Microsoft actively looks the other way as people pirate its software. It builds its market share that way, and lets people get used to the idea of having Windows at a certain price.”

–ECT

“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

–Bill Gates (about the Chinese people)

THIS is a subject that was covered here many times before [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Previous posts about the issue provide suitable background to the arrogance of Microsoft, which labels “pirates” the very same people who make its software ubiquitous and therefore ’successful’.

Microsoft really needs money now. Will there be more Black Screens of Death in China as a result of financial stress?

About an hour ago, over in the IRC channel, one of our readers said: “Incidentally, real piracy is becoming a major international issue around Somalia - it’s about time the music and film industries stopped trying to characterise people who make an illicit copy of a CD as akin in some way to murderous kidnappers making ransom demands for £millions.”

Moving on to the news, Steve Ballmer says that China is not important. Adding insult to injury:

THE global head of Microsoft has dismissed China’s importance to its business due to the Government’s failure to curb rampant software piracy.

Is this the same “piracy” that Mr. Gates spoke about a year ago?

“It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.”

–Bill Gates

So, in essence, Microsoft is attempting to dramatise the situation and disguise deliberate attempts to make its software widespread through so-called ‘piracy’. As vain as it may seem, Microsoft even bemoans loss of revenue and warns that the local economy is in danger because ‘poor’ Microsoft is fighting GNU/Linux suffering from ‘pirates’. They try to earn sympathy with these crocodile tears.

It’s not just China though. Oh, no. It’s the same in the majority of the countries around the world, but China is an extreme case because of the size of its population (it’s also the most Net-connected society). Microsoft has just insulted people of Oman in very much the same way.

Piracy remains a concern in Oman, Microsoft says

[…]

“The government has even closed down shops for selling pirated software here in Mucsat,” he said.

“The losses to the industry and governments are in the billions compared to the small savings that people make by taking up pirated software.”

These are lies and spin. Microsoft used to rely on these shops (and continues to rely on them to an extent). Illegal sharing of Microsoft’s non-Free software has been beneficial to the company, but that’s not the story it wishes to tell the world. Instead, Microsoft paints itself a victim.

Microsoft Prefers McCain, Not Osama

Microsoft has many reasons to favour McCain, for reasons that were mentioned and showed here before [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [cref X 6], 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]. The following is surely accidental, but why is this still not fully resolved several months after being reported?

Dear Microsoft: Barack Obama is not Osama or a barrack

While I write this, the spell-check function in Microsoft Word will indignantly underline President-elect Barack Obama’s name until I concede to referring to him as a building for lodging soldiers.

Well, I’m not giving in that easily.

Both the words “Barack” and “Obama” appear above squiggly red lines in Word documents. The question is: … really?

Microsoft’s arrogance could cost it dearly when people catch up and are finally told the truth. █

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11.13.08

Patents Roundup: Microsoft, re Bilski and Reform

Posted in Law, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Patents, America, Asia at 9:03 am by Roy Schestowitz

Software Patents Turn Against Microsoft, United States

ONE week ago we showed two things: 1) Microsoft’s apparent disregard for prior art; and 2) the lawsuit that hit Windows Vista. It did not bode well for Microsoft, whose policy on patent is — quite frankly — becoming somewhat of a joke in the blogosphere and even some media circles. It makes patents as a whole look like a circus.

Microsoft Employee Admits That Patent Disclosure Is A Myth

Defenders of the patent system quite frequently point out that one of the main benefits (some claim the only benefit) of the patent system is “disclosure.” That is, because the patent system requires you to disclose your patent, the patent system is quite helpful in spreading ideas. This is a myth that’s easily debunked on a few points.

This Microsoft employee has ironically enough been the person to get the myth dismissed. It has always been said that disclosure seems better on paper than in practice and here we have a testimonial.

The patent lawsuit that came from China is now being covered by The Inquirer.

A CHINESE Internet company has sued Microsoft for patent infringement over its use of RSS* in Windows Vista.

What goes around comes around… and bites those who are greedy in the rear. Glyn Moody goes a step further and suggests that this intellectual monopolies regime might have an effect at an international level.

In the 19th century, America was a by-word for piracy of British ideas. In the 20th century, as its industry developed, it embraced intellectual monopolies, and became the most fervent advocate of maximalist legal regimes.

In the 20th century, China was a by-word for piracy of American ideas. In the 21st century, as its industry developed, it embraced intellectual monopolies, and became their stoutest defender. The news story above is but the trickle that presages the torrent.

Soon, America will be deluged with such suits, as China tries to leverage its huge industrial power. The consequence? America will become one of the most fervent advocates for *minimalist* intellectual property regimes. Yes, you read that correctly: just wait.

Microsoft’s (or Bill Gates’) participatory role and investment in a massive patent-trolling firm seems to be confirmed by one publication which suggests Microsoft is among the funding sources, not just Bill Gates (at a personal capacity). Here is an interesting observation from Matt Asay.

Of more concern was the TechFlash’s news that Bill Gates, Craig Mundie, and other top current and past Microsoft officials make a regular pilgrimage to the patent troll, Intellectual Ventures, to feed it ideas which it turns into patents. Regardless of what one thinks about patents, shouldn’t Microsoft be feeding itself with patents, not another company? In other words, shouldn’t it be the patent troll?

Microsoft is better off feeding shells, which cannot be counter-sued. The system is structured such that it permits trolls to exploit it endlessly (unless or until the system gets mended). An old myth spread by Bill Gates is that patents are alright because all the large companies can cross-license and live happily (never mind small businesses and the waste of time that patent applications are). Well, it doesn’t compute anymore, does it? Further, says Asay:

Patents are short-term monopolies (20 years) designed to give inventors sufficient time in which to recoup their R&D costs and turn a profit. Open source turns the 20-year patent term into two years, if that. As a relentless, ever-growing competitior, open source keeps the proprietary world in check and on its toes to a degree that the industry has never before seen.

Reform: The Sooner the, Better

BusinessWeek, a somewhat notorious ‘Wintel’ publication that forbids linking to it (!!), is now entertaining an article that accuses the Patent Office of stifling innovation rather than promoting it.

Patent Office Stifles Innovation

Information Age innovators need not apply. At least that’s the implied message being stretched like police tape across the door of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The agency seems fixated on eliminating the last, true, sustainable American advantage: our capacity to innovate.

Sign of unrest, no?

Regarding business methods patents, even Microsoft resisted them, but much like IBM, it wanted to keep software patents in tact. Groklaw tells the story.

The Microsoft brief was filed along with Dell and Symantec, and it’s an attempt to get the court to deny the Bilski claims while at the same time trying to keep the court from going all the way and deciding software should not be patentable. There are some logic bumps along the way, as you will see. The court diverged from Microsoft’s argument about three-quarters of the way through, and it didn’t directly address software patents, except in one footnote, mainly because Bilski wasn’t about software. So it left unaddressed Microsoft’s chief argument about why software should patentable, namely because of what it does to a computer.

The FSF has just put forth a press release celebrating what it calls “a victory”.

As opinions form about the extent to which the Court ruling impacts the patenting of software, one thing is clear. The State Street ruling that in 1998 opened the flood gates to the patenting of business methods and software has been gutted, if not technically overturned.

Could re Bilski help the permanent burial of software patents in India, where multi-national companies continue to rely on loopholes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]?

Why, you may well ask, is the denial of patent to Bernie Bilski for a method of managing weather-related risk in commodities making the software open source community jump up in joy? A particularly happy lot is the lobby campaigning against software patents in India.

Analysis continues to arrive and it’s very important as it may be used extensively as a reference in future cases. From Digital Majority and Groklaw we have:

1. Patent decision: New Roadblock to Software/Tech Patents

On October 30th a leading U.S. federal court decided the major case of In re Bernard L. Bilski. This 100+ page court case could have a major impact on software and technology companies, especially those trying to obtain or enforce software patents in the U.S.

2. United States: Long-Awaited “Bilski” Decision Restricts Patentability Of Software, Business Methods

The Bilski decision is significant because it may affect a patentee’s ability to enforce existing patents, the prospects for pending patent applications and the decision whether to file new patent applications directed to so-called “business methods” and software-related innovations….

It has meanwhile come to our attention that Amazon is appealing the 1-click patent rejection. Is this not close to impossible given the re Bilski ruling?

For some background, see this old page

EPO rules for full revocation after a hearing in the opposition of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII e.V.) against Amazon.com’s infamous patent on the online purchase of gifts. The patent EP927945 is a descendant of the controversial One-Click Patent, which was granted to Amazon in the USA but was partially revoked there due to lack of novelty in October 2007.

The patent seems to be somewhere in between software and business methods. The USPTO should reject the appeal, citing the Bernard Bilski case at the very least. Prior art is another strong argument and so is obviousness. █

In the Amazon, parroting is inventing

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11.12.08

Searete a Part of Intellectual Ventures, a Patent-trolling Firm

Posted in Law, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Intellectual Property, Patents at 7:05 am by Roy Schestowitz

“Microsoft hardly needs an SCO source license. Its license payment to SCO is simply a good-looking way to pass along a bribe…”

–Bruce Perens

A couple of days ago we explained why Bill Gates was becoming a patent troll, just like his friend and colleague Nathan Myhrvold. Todd Bishop’s report about Searete (and Bill Gates) now suggests that it is part of the umbrella that’s the world’s largest patent troll, Intellectual Ventures LLC.

Bill Gates and several of Microsoft’s top technologists are credited as inventors in eight newly disclosed U.S. patent applications. That isn’t a surprise. But here’s where it starts to get unusual: The applications weren’t made on Microsoft’s behalf.

[…]

Here’s what we know: An entity called Searete LLC applied for the patents. Searete is part of Intellectual Ventures LLC, the Bellevue-based invention house run by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft’s former chief technology officer. Myhrvold’s company has stirred controversy with its large patent hoard.

Slashdot’s summary is a particularly good one because of the useful links.

“TechFlash reports that Microsoft bigwigs like Craig Mundie and Bill Gates (when he still worked there) have been secretly moonlighting at Intellectual Ventures (IV), the ‘patent extortion fund‘ run by Bill’s pal Nathan Myhrvold. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed that its technologists have been sitting in on IV-sponsored ‘innovation sessions,’ where their pearls of wisdom were captured and turned into patent applications for Searete, an IV shadow corporate entity. And if all goes well, Searete will soon enjoy exclusive rights to the fruit of the brainstorming, which includes processes ranging from determining and rewarding ‘influencers’ to treating malaria, HIV, TB, hepatitis, smallpox, and cancer.”

A contributor and informant of ours found this much older article about the relationship between Myhrvold and Gates, among other things. Here is a gem:

If Microsoft had simply bundled the RIP technology in the next version of its operating systems, the World Wide Web may have evolved in a very different way, leaving nothing for Netscape to create.

Groklaw highlights this one from September:

Just like in the story-line of Independence Day, where the alien death ships slowly but surely positioned themselves over each major city, with the eventual outcome well understood, so too is Intellectual Ventures (I.V.) slowly positioning itself as the patent overlord over many major industry segments. Just like in the movie, the eventual outcome is well understood. To wit: Complete usurpation of the U.S. Patent system. The outcome is a ,gigantic tax/toll collector controlling the pulse of innovation in the U.S. or, like the move, extermination of innovation.

The 20,000 patents, and growing, in the I.V. portfolio have each withstood an average of but 14 hours of scrutiny by the U.S. Patent Office. That’s it; less than 2 business days of total review to issue a property right that, when amassed as I.V. has done, can inflict great pain ($ 1 Billion per) upon an entire industry. But here’s why the Emperor has no clothes: In any collection of patents, bar none, about 95% of the patents reflect the worth of their 14 hours of individual scrutiny. In addition, the Supreme Court, last year, re-wrote the standard of review (KSR V. TeleFlex). In short, these patents are not worth the paper they are printed on. But, owing to the excessive cost and uncertainty to have a second look at these patents either during the course of litigation, or through the Patent Office Reexamination procedures, most victims of this licensing extortion racket meekly pay-up. What Myhrvold has wrought is an obscene abuse of the patent system. It should be stopped, either by industry groups banding together to file reexaminations, or by Congress, or both.

To summarise, what we apparently have here is the regrouping of people who work outside Microsoft and accumulate weaponry which can be used in a patent troll-like fashion, whereby litigation or extortion cannot be suppressed by a counter-lawsuits. Intellectual Ventures and Searete have no actual products, and there is no plan to have any.

Bearing in mind the Acacia incident [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], these guys need to be watched closely. █

Photo under the GNU Free Documentation license

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11.10.08

Report: Bill Gates Becoming Patent Troll Like Nathan Myhrvold

Posted in Microsoft, Bill Gates, Patents at 5:19 pm by Roy Schestowitz

“Intellectual property is the next software.”

–Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft patent troll

THE story of Myhrvold and Gates was told here before [1, 2]. They are partners in so-called patent-trolling because Gates is investing in Myrholvd’s patent-trolling firm. And yes, this pair conceived Intellectual Ventures, which has already begun extortion against large companies and it receives licensing fees for patents it possesses.

Gates’ obsession with patents is nothing new and a few weeks ago we suspected that Gates was creating another patent troll in his home state. Our far-fetched speculation at the time seems likely to have just become a correct one because Mike Masnick unearthed the following.

Plenty of folks have been wondering just what Bill Gates is up to now that he’s left his full-time position at Microsoft. Longtime rabble-rouser theodp has alerted us to one thing that Bill Gates is spending at least some of his time on: a bunch of patent applications for a company named “Searete LLC” — including this one for rewarding influencers and another for a method to inject fluids into animals.

So, what’s Searete? Well, it appears (warning: pdf file) that it’s one of the many ultra secret shell front companies for Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures, a company that unabashedly plans to be a huge patent tollbooth on just about any kind of innovation. We’ve already noted that he’s been setting up shell companies as part of the operation’s secrecy.

The Register has an article about this too (citing Mike).

TechDirt has uncovered that Bill Gates is named as an inventor on nine patents registered with a company called Searete since he stepped down from day-to-day responsibilities with Microsoft. Gates is also named on a further two Searete patents pre-dating his Microsoft departure.

Searete is one of a clutch of companies operated by Myrholvd’s Intellectual Ventures (IV). Myhrvold holds 241 named patents in Searete, whose catalogue goes back to November 200

Further down it says some things about “Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise (OSP),” stressing that “concerns remain that Microsoft can unilaterally update the terms.”

We warned about the OSP many times before [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

What to do when a company is sinking and its software is worth about $0? Use intellectual monopolies to loot the industry, only months after a so-called ‘departure’ in pursuit of “philanthropy”. It’s too early to say too much about “Searete”, though. This is likely to become important. █

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11.01.08

Microsoft: 800 lb. Guerrilla

Posted in Microsoft, Apple, Novell, Bill Gates, Google at 7:33 am by Roy Schestowitz

Guerrilla Against Apple

Microsoft’s means of aggression against Apple, such as offering $15,000 for Mac bloggers to sell out, have almost culminated in moves that resemble their recent interference in a VMware conference [1, 2], crashing of PlayStation3 launch parties, the Linux Personas Web site and so forth. Microsoft seems to have used similar techniques against ODF [1, 2] and Novell is guilty of the same behaviour [1, 2].

A reader who prefers to remain anonymous has just sent us a pointer to this.

Microsoft Corp., engrossed in multi-million dollar marketing blitz to counter anti-Vista propaganda from rival Apple, Inc., is now using a portion of its budget to fuel guerilla retail tactics near the Mac maker’s stores.

Says the unnamed reader: “See the poster on the right in the background: The product that just won’t die.

“If it weren’t for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.”“If it weren’t for per-processor fees and such, DR-DOS would have killed off Microsoft.

“If it weren’t for OEM lock-in BeOS, Amiga and Apple would have each bitten off a third each.

“If it weren’t for all kinds of lobbying and out-sourced marketing with off-the-scale marketing budgets, Red Hat and Ubuntu would have seen the end of Microsoft.

“It’s responsible for 90+% of the world’s spam, nearly 100% of the world’s botnets, the vector for nearly 100% of the world’s viruses and worms, in violation of most privacy and security laws, and yet the product line just won’t die.”

Guerrilla Against FCC

We previously discussed the relationship between Microsoft and the FCC, as well as with Comcast. A few months ago we also showed Gates’ political intervention in the United Nation, which is part of a much broader phenomenon [1, 2] that shows Microsoft is a political creature no less than it is a legal, marketing and technical company. That last part too is in doubt…

“Usually Microsoft doesn’t develop products, we buy products.”

–Arno Edelmann, Microsoft’s European business security product manager

Anyhow, another thing that was shown before is that Gates’ lobbying for more visas was only for selfish gain [1, 2]. It was seen as unnecessary or even harmful at the time and earlier this month it turned out to be a fraud.

With all this knowledge in mind, can Microsoft and Gates be trusted as they approach the FCC regarding white spaces? Here are some bits from various articles in the news:

1. Gates, Microsoft lobby FCC for unlicensed white spaces use (Microsoft-influenced New York Times)

Microsoft is lobbying the FCC this week to allow unlicensed use of so-called “white spaces” television spectrum for wireless Internet services.

2. Microsoft urges FCC vote on airwaves access (Gates-funded Mercury News)

Microsoft Chief Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said a plan to use television airwaves for free Internet access may face significant delays if the Federal Communications Commission puts off a vote next week.

3. Microsoft’s Gates steps up FCC ‘white space’ lobbying (FUD-mongering Reuters)

Bill Gates and other Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) officials stepped up lobbying of top U.S. communications regulators on Monday, ahead of an important vote next week to open up unused wireless airwaves.

Aren’t governments supposed to think for themselves and make their own judgment? Are they not capable? Since when is Bill Gates a white space expert?

Guerrilla Against Yahoo and Google

Still searching for answers to Google

“Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…”

“Ballmer Still Searching for an Answer to Google”

According to Bloomberg, Yahoo is still gaining in search and the main loser continues to be Microsoft.

Yahoo had about 20.2 percent of queries in September, up from 19.6 percent in August, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore said today in an e-mail. Microsoft’s share fell to 8.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Google Inc. handled 62.9 percent, compared with 63 percent in August.

Todd Bishop argues that Microsoft’s attempt to pay users was unsuccessful.

[O]verall, those initiatives haven’t had a lasting impact on Microsoft’s share of the market.

According to another independent meter, Microsoft declined to 5.46%, down from 9.85% the year before. This statistic was shown around the same time that Microsoft began paying users in order to entice them to use its search engine (only to be spied on for harvesting behaviour of search and clicks).

These unsustainable strategies may not last for long though because Microsoft cut $400,000,000 in this particular area, due to lingering financial issues.

In reporting its latest quarterly results, the company last week said it will lower spending by $400 million to $500 million over the next year to weather the downturn.

Microsoft’s last resort seems to be Yahoo, but that too would be costly (also to the consumer). One has to remember the referrer spamming that Microsoft uses, as well as other black-hat tricks and tweaked search engine results [1, 2, 3].

Several sources, all of which cite a report from the Wall Street Journal, claim that the Google-Yahoo deal is becoming less likely to materialise.

Google and Yahoo may abandon their planned search advertising deal as early as next week.

What’s to blame? The very same department which Microsoft is known to have lots of control over.

Google is considering walking away from its advertising deal with Yahoo! because the Department of Justice is demanding too much in return.

We have already covered the abuse and the political games Microsoft has played to intercept this deal [1, 2]. It’s always disturbing to find governments that are run by corporations. █

“[If I ask you who is Microsoft’s biggest competitor now, who would it be?] Open…Linux. I don’t want to say open source. Linux, certainly have to go with that.”

–Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s CEO), February 28^th, 2008

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10.27.08

Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates Personally Fund Republican

Posted in Microsoft, Finance, Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, America, Antitrust at 11:35 am by Roy Schestowitz

‘Excerpt from Lincoln’s famous speech, noted for the phrase “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” when accepting the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Illinois in June of 1858.’

Several hours ago we brought together several links which show a relationship between Microsoft and John McCain. This friendship is probably best known for the lack or regulation and absence of antitrust action.

We have already covered — quite extensively in fact — Microsoft’s influence on the government using lobbyists. There are other posts that explain deregulation [1, 2], but they are less relevant to the following news.

Today’s news may suggest that not only Microsoft, being a very large corporation, influences the government using campaign contributions — a subtle form of (legalised) ‘bribery’. That’s just how the broken system operates. It’s more interesting to find that out Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates are opening up their wallets to personally support a Republican.

Redmond’s own Republican fights uphill battle for re-election

[…]

One important Microsoft employee seems favorably inclined: Steve Ballmer donated the maximum amount of $2,300 to Reichert’s campaign in November 2007 and again in June 2008.

It seems as if not all Microsoft employees are sold, however. According to OpenSecrets.org, an independent campaign finance tracking site, 22 Microsoft employees from the state of Washington donated $34,200 to Reichert this election cycle. Comparatively, Burner received $116,969 from 134 Washington-based Microsoft employees.

As for the 8th district’s most famous resident? Bill Gates donated to both Reichert and Burner.

It’s all about money and favours. In such an ill state of affairs, no wonder the whole system is collapsing (along with Microsoft). Perhaps — be it wishful thinking or a matter of inevitability — a better regulatory system will rise from the ashes. █

“Did you know that there are more than 34,750 registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., for just 435 representatives and 100 senators? That’s 64 lobbyists for each congressperson.”

–CIO.com

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Slate Magazine, Microsoft, The Washington Post and Melinda Gates

Posted in Microsoft, GNU/Linux, SCO, Deception, Bill Gates at 10:51 am by Roy Schestowitz

Follow the money

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10.23.08

Rumour: Bill Gates Could Develop/Foster Yet Another Patent Troll, Maybe Lobby

Posted in Microsoft, GNU/Linux, Bill Gates, Patents, Europe, IBM at 5:33 pm by Roy Schestowitz

“The government is not trying to destroy Microsoft, it’s simply seeking to compel Microsoft to obey the law. It’s quite revealing that Mr. Gates equates the two.”

–Government official

PEOPLE who reportedly leave Microsoft aside tend to ‘reappear’ in other places. Bill Gates, for example, is actively fighting against Free software, albeit behind the scenes [1, 2]. Possession of governments enables this [1, 2] and pet charities can help too.

It is important never to forget the world’s most greedy and already-aggressive patent troll, who is fueled by investments from Bill Gates himself — the very genesis of its inception. There are rumours flying at the moment about the meaning of a new Bill Gates company, which public records label a “think tank.” Some people are guessing that it’s a patent troll, but it’s probably not. Based on one source:

Public documents describe the new Gates entity — bgC3 LLC — as a “think tank.” It’s housed within a Kirkland office that the Microsoft co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive role at the company this summer.

As we showed before, contrary to common belief (or innocence), a lot of staff at Microsoft is working along the lines of a political movement [1, 2, 3]. Microsoft has actual engagements in the writing of national rules that affect it. It sometimes exploits think tanks.

“Microsoft has actual engagements in the writing of national rules that affect it.”Keeping an eye on Gates is important because he is still fully dedicated to helping Microsoft, largely using political means and diplomacy. Some time ago we also wrote about the departure of Todd Bishop, but we wondered where he would land? Well, it turns out that he never vanished; rather, he relocated.

Tracking the movement of key people is important in order to understand decisions that are made by companies. Novell, for example, may be oozing IBM influence [1, 2] and IBM seems like one of the main forces behind OIN and the Linux Foundation. It is a sad thing that OIN, just like IBM, does not participate in attempts to eliminate software patents. This has just been confirmed by Roberto Galoppini.

Initiatives like the world day Against software patents, or the stop software patent initiative, are definitely a good thing. Not the ultimate answer to the problem though, I am afraid.

Keith Bergelt, Open Innovation Network’s new appointed CEO, was clear telling me that OIN won’t collaborate with FFII or similar organizations to fight against software patents in Europe. OIN cares just about Linux, so far. That is a pity, considering that they are lobbying around Europe now.

The FSF does not participate enough in this either (maybe not as actively as before). On the other hand, it is clear what the views of the FSF and FSFE really are.

For those who are not aware of OIN’s deficiencies, here is the gist of it.

GM: Typically, patent trolls don’t have any products, so they are unlikely to be infringing on any of your patents. Isn’t that a problem for the OIN approach?

JR: Very clearly there’s not much we can do with regard to patent trolls. On the other hand, it’s my belief that patent trolls go where the money is. They’re after the big dollars. That’s probably why they haven’t, and not for a long time will, go after the open-source movement - that’s not where the money is. Could it become a problem in the future? The answer is, sure it could.

Whatever happens, whereas OIN defends Linux, it does not protect the vast majority of GNU/Linux distributions. It is far from a solution. So, the patent watch continues. █

“No less than Bill Gates himself said in a recent Fortune article that Microsoft competes better against Linux in China when there’s piracy than when there isn’t.

“So, Microsoft actively looks the other way as people pirate its software. It builds its market share that way, and lets people get used to the idea of having Windows at a certain price.”

–ECT, yesterday

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