Linux and EU

[Lagu]

Hello

Try this: http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/index.html

Will Linux be a free licenced OS in the future? Or will we pay a lot of money for it?

There you can find many links and forums on various language.
I found this link when I was searsing after Knoppix

Lagu :)

[AMDave]

That's an important link, Lagu.

I had hear about the idea, but I had no idea that the EU had got so far down that path.

Imagine writing a small piece of code or even a script to do something simple and then getting a barrage of letters from solicitors and lawyers from the other side of the world and being forced to remove the program you wrote or pay for someone else's licence for it.

The worst thing about Patents in most countries is that you could have written your program years before, but if someone else lodges a Patent and you haven't then they get the rights.

Just rediculous.

Programmers all over the world borrow and lend code which gets built upon. This is what has helped IT develop rapidly. To force this into an "I've got more money than you, so you have to pay me" situation is horrible. The only ones who will get anything out of this are the governments, and even they too are going to end up paying more for poor software.

I just dont see any benefit in it at all exept a short term money grab.

Definitely a red-flag that needs to be watched. Lets hope the FFII can knock some sense into the beaurocrats. Looks like a tough job.

[Brucifer]

Well it is a situation where they will eng up killing the goose that lays the golden egg. People like myself that use linux to keep the costs down on running multiple crunchers will just end up closing shop due purely to costs. I don't use windows because of the cost. I realize that there are a lot of people out there running hot copies of windows. However their days are numbered cause at some point anything windows that runs on the net will have to check in with "home" and if it is hot, it won't run. And of course windows would love the software patents thing cause they seem to think that everyone "just has" to get computers and be on the internet............. and they think they will make more money......

I love computers, have made a lot of money off them over the years, but if the costs get too high then there are other things to do in life. There's already people turning off their systems and turning away from the internet just due to costs at present, and all the hassles and expense involved in runing a system with upgrades, backup software, upgrades, virus scanners, spyware, etc., etc., etc. So the software patents thing is likely to be a reallly significant "downer" to the world as we DC people know it. It will also impact about everything computers now. If people thought there was a big stink raised over the SCO linux lawsuits, they haven't seen anything at all if software patents goes through in the EU. That will impact all the little boys and girls in the US too, even though a lot of them don't realize it yet.

[AMDave]

As above, I am still watching how this develops...

Things are about to heat up on this issue with the first political debates commencing this week
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050523/tc_nm/eu_patents_dc

I find the M$ comment ironic, since they charged too much for their s/w and made Visual Studio available. This encouraged the community of code cutters in the first place. They ought to bite their tongues ... hard ... and remember who started this almighty row in the firstplace.

[AMDave]

Although the EP has officiall dropped the software patent idea
(06-Jul-2005 - http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/index.html ) the issue is still alive and kicking, perpetuated by some of it's original promoters
(06-Oct-2005 - http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26743 )

It now appears that the big names who have a lot invested in the support services of Open Software have become nervous enough to start thinking protectively about the future of their income in the Open Software support service industry.
(10-Nov-2005 - http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051110/tc_nm/linux_dc )

This is a smart move, but we have to hope that the collaboration will hold true to their intentions.

I think that they will, as well as they can, otherwise they would be cutting into their own revenue streams in the long run.

The temptation to alter the original premise may be there in the future.
However, if the patent collection becomes large enough it may then become subject to international regulation (as a sweeping change may have significant effect on smaller and developing countries and their governments).

Something new in the arena to watch and muse on, though.