On Jan 3, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Thompson, Steve wrote:
---------------------SNIP--------------------------------------
So it is not quite that simple.
And all arguments to the contrary, IBM did license their patents,
and so
they did BILLIONS of dollars of research. They chose (up to the point
they pulled their web page) to license their patents. And at the same
time, as I have said before, IBM licenses other patents for their
systems (e.g., AMDAHL had several that IBM licensed).
Regards,
Steve Thompson
Steve,
You raised some interesting points. Although I am highly suspicious
of the IBM posting information on a public site and then taking it
down and then calling it a trade secret is well fishy (to me). I
think we are all too close to the subject matter to have a real
balanced decision. I think IBM blew any chance of having its
customers root for them when they decided to go OCO. It will be
interesting to see what happens in the courts here in the states as
well as the EU courts.
I expect this will come out as a mixed bag and no one will be happy.
Although IBM may be the long term loser not for this but MVS will
slowly sink in the hazes of time and either LINUX or UNIX or MS/????
will be the real winners.
Ed
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