MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-05-02 |
| FROM | From: "Michael L. Richardson"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Microsoft Reaches Out to Open-Source Community
|
Hold on to your ideas. Microsoft is looking for their next new idea to
steal.
On Mon, 2 May 2005 8:14 am, Inker, Evan wrote:
> Microsoft Reaches Out to Open-Source Community
> By Darryl K. Taft
> April 29, 2005
> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1791085,00.asp#talkback
>
> Microsoft Corp. has extended an olive branch to the open-source
> community,
> calling for a sit-down to discuss how the software giant can better
> work
> with the open-source world.
>
> But don't expect to see an open-sourced version of Windows any time
> soon.
> Microsoft is making nice with its open-source adversaries, while
> continuing
> to defend its rights to hold and use its arsenal of software patents.
>
> At a recent conference sponsored by the Association for Competitive
> Technology (ACT) in Cambridge, Md., Brad Smith, Microsoft's general
> counsel,
> called for bridge building between Microsoft, its competitors and the
> open-source community.
>
> "In the world of software development today there is a broad panoply of
> software development models," Smith said.
>
> "We're going to have to figure out how to build some bridges between
> the
> various parts of our industry," he continued. "We're going to have to
> figure
> out how we can bring the various parts of our industry closer together.
> Not
> necessarily in the sense of changing the way software is developed, but
> building bridges so that we all have the ability to collaborate with
> each
> other. And that will mean we will need some new rotations, I think, in
> how
> we work together, in how we license, in how we share technology or
> intellectual property rights with each other."
>
> One open-source community leader said this was the first conciliatory
> statement to come out of Redmond, Wash., where Microsoft is
> headquartered.
>
> Larry Rosen, former general counsel for the Open Source Initiative and
> a
> leading open-source supporter who was present for Smith's speech, said,
> "I'm
> pleased to hear requests for bridge building, and I have been open to
> it all
> along. And I think it's important that the entire IT industry-both the
> proprietary side and the open, free software side-at least understands
> each
> others' positions better, if not actually come to compromises that
> allow
> both 'sides,' and I hate to use the word 'sides' but I think it would
> be
> very helpful to everyone to engage in dialogue."
>
> In an interview following his keynote, Smith told eWEEK: "First you
> have to
> start with some dialogue. We are now interested in it, and we'd like to
> do
> this. I think we'll find we've got a lot more in common than we
> realize, and
> I think there are many of us who would like to meet."
>
> Meanwhile, Rosen said, "I would like to see that they engage in an
> intellectually thorough discussion where we actually prove the points
> that
> he's making or the points we're making about the value and utility of
> software patents, rather than simply make the assumption and jump to
> the
> conclusion that reform is needed. ... The test is going to be when we
> engage
> in that dialogue are we really going to sit at the table and put things
> on
> the table and figure out how to reach some form of compromise? We did
> that
> over a three year period with the W3C [World Wide Web Consortium]."
>
> Rosen noted that the open-source community helped the World Wide Web
> Consortium develop a royalty-free intellectual property policy and is
> working with the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
> Information
> Systems (OASIS) and would like to work with Microsoft in the same way.
> In
> fact, Rosen said he would like to see the software industry do away
> with
> software patents altogether.
>
> Richard Wilder, a patent attorney and partner at the Washington, D.C.,
> law
> firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, said of Smith's comments, "For the
> kinds of
> bridges he's talking about, I think you need a problem to be solved and
> then
> you can work from there."
>
> Eric Raymond, a Malvern, Pa.-based open-source community leader and
> consultant to Sun Microsystems Inc. on the company's move to
> open-source
> Solaris, said he too welcomes the conciliatory tone from Microsoft.
>
> There are new ways to "open up" Windows. Click here to find out what
> they
> are.
>
> "Nobody in the open-source world expects Microsoft to open-source their
> core
> products; given their business model that would be insane," Raymond
> said.
>
> "But, realistically, they could do some important things. One, open up
> their
> file formats. That is, fully document things like the Microsoft Word
> and
> Windows Media formats, and make a binding promise not to sue people who
> write software to interoperate with them," he said. "Two, put down the
> patent weapon. Do as IBM has, and offer their software patents under
> royalty-free, paperwork-free license to open-source projects. Three,
> support
> open technical standards, rather than sabotaging them. Microsoft has a
> history of destructive meddling at organizations like the IETF and W3C,
> and
> of attempting to hijack standards like Kerberos by making them
> dependent on
> proprietary 'extensions.' Simply not doing this would be a huge
> improvement."
>
> But Smith argues that Microsoft and others not only have the right to
> hold
> their patents, but to exercise them to defend their intellectual
> property,
> though also to work in partnership with others.
>
> "There are a whole diverse set of ways that companies can and should
> use
> their patent portfolio and technology base not only to protect their
> own
> innovation, but to stimulate and share innovation with others," Smith
> said.
>
> Microsoft has crafted what Smith called "outbound royalty-based patent
> licenses" that the company has used to transfer technology to startup
> firms.
>
>
> "We in the private sector not only have to do a good job of obtaining
> protection for our own inventions, we also have to do more to work with
> each
> other," Smith said. "And we have to license our intellectual property
> rights
> to each other for a fair and reasonable term-sometimes it's for a
> royalty,
> sometimes it's royalty free."
>
> Sanjay Prasad , chief patent counsel at Oracle Corp., said, "A lot of
> people
> say that patents are the tools of big business to lock out other
> people, and
> they certainly are used by big business, but a patent has a quite a bit
> more
> value to a small business than a big business, there is just no doubt
> about
> that."
>
> Meanwhile, Smith called for patent reform, a refrain of a message he
> had
> raised earlier this year.
>
> "The reality is that anybody who is an inventor and is successful both
> relies on patents and is a target for patent litigation by others,"
> Smith
> said. "And everybody should have to pay their fair share and respect
> the
> rules. But it helps if the system works well. And with the explosion in
> patent litigation in this country we've see the increase in litigation
> abuse. We've seen people inflate their ability to seek monetary awards
> when
> it wasn't really deserved."
>
> Microsoft is making sure its presence is felt at open-source events.
> Click
> here to read more.
>
> Smith called for Congress, which held a hearing on patent reform
> earlier
> this week, to focus on four things: patent quality, patent litigation
> abuse,
> the needs of smaller inventors-"We've been supportive of what we call
> the
> zero fee filing system for small inventors"-and harmonization, "which
> basically means among other things that the U.S. needs to move to a
> first-to-file system so that like everywhere else the first person to
> file
> an application gets the award rather than it going to the first to
> invent
> it."
>
> David Simon, chief patent counsel at Intel, testified before a Senate
> Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week and said, "Let me state
> at the
> outset that the patent law is not broken. The law is fundamentally
> sound and
> works well." However, Simon called for reforms or improvements in the
> areas
> of patent quality, training and funding for U.S. Patent and Trademark
> Office
> staff, access to prior art, harmonization and litigation abuses, among
> others.
>
> "More recently, the PTO, with Jim Rogan [former director of the PTO]
> and
> John Dudas [current PTO director] providing the political leadership,
> decided that now was the time to change the fundamental premise on
> which the
> PTO would judge whether or not it was really making a contribution to
> supporting industry by shifting away from what had predominantly been a
> production-based mentality"-how many patent issues could be generated
> per
> staff year of effort"-to attempting to import into the PTO as many
> different
> quality improvement techniques and practices as possible," said Brad
> Huther,
> a director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former president and CEO
> for
> the International Intellectual Property Institute.
>
> At this week's hearing, Dudas said that the patent law should be
> changed to
> award a patent to the first person to file a claim. The current rules
> allow
> patents to be granted to the first person who devised the invention.
>
>
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