NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER 11/30/04 Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED],
In this issue: * Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs takes a look at a report from a ��consultancy named Open Source Risk Management, and Microsoft's ��'spin' on that study * Links related to Gibbs & Bradner * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored By BMC Software Linking IT Priorities to Business Objectives, an IDC whitepaper. Get insights from IDC on aligning business goals and IT priorities. IDC offers practical, actionable information on how Business Service Management can help you reduce operating costs, improve service levels, respond faster to business needs and protect delivery of business-critical. Click here to download this whitepaper now. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88747 _______________________________________________________________ COMPREHENSIVE ENTERPRISE STORAGE INFORMATION Go to NW Fusion's Research Center for detailed information on enterprise storage. Find the latest breaking news, case studies, white papers, commentary, reviews and more. Topics on how ILM impacts your storage strategy, how to migrate to a new tape drive, how to link SAN islands and more are all found in the Research Center. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=89268 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Linux violates more than 228 patents - big deal By Mark Gibbs "There was a report out this summer by an open source group that highlighted that Linux violates over 228 patents. . . . So the licensing costs are less clear than people think today." That's Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer doing his level best to scare the bejesus out of corporate buyers who might think Linux looks good. [Also: Do software users need indemnification? ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1119dosoftw.html> ) Dave Kearns: Microsoft's Ballmer talks the talk ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/112904kearns.html> ) Scott Bradner: Quality of threats rather than quality of software ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/2004/columnists/2004/112904bradner.html> )] Of course, Microsoft upped the ante a few weeks ago ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1110microtoin.html> ) by expanding its intellectual property indemnification program in an obvious attempt to appeal to customer paranoia and to a greater or lesser extent it will work. But how big is the risk from open source software? As with much of Microsoft's spin these days, Ballmer was being, shall we say, "economical with the truth." The report he was referring to came from a consultancy named Open Source Risk Management (OSRM). Now you might assume that OSRM is somehow on Microsoft's side in the open source vs. proprietary software argument, but nothing could be further from the truth. OSRM describes its mission as being based on a vision "of a world 'made safe for open source' - a world in which the unique freedoms and efficiencies of the open source software development model are fully protected through comprehensive, low-cost vendor-neutral open source protection available to end users, developers and vendors." So how did Ballmer make fast and loose with OSRM's findings? Here's what the report actually says: "While patents certainly do not spell doom for royalty-free distribution of Linux; there is a level of patent infringement risk that Linux users and developers should be mindful of and prepared to address." OK, a little disheartening but stick with me here: "More specifically, the study found that not a single software patent fully reviewed and validated by the courts is infringed by the Linux kernel." Ah-ha! The report carries on: "Yet, the study also determined that 283 software patents not yet reviewed by the courts could potentially be used to support claims of infringement against Linux. To be clear, this is not a level of potential infringement greater than that of proprietary software; comparable proprietary software faces the same level of potential infringement." In other words, Windows is at least open to as much of a challenge over its intellectual property as Linux is. The OSRM report's author, Dan Ravicher, quoted in Linux Today,pointed out that "not a single open source software program has ever been sued for patent infringement, much less be found to infringe. On the contrary, proprietary software, like Windows, is sued and found guilty of patent infringement quite frequently." Ravicher also pointed out that the number of untested patents that Linux violates "is so average as to be boring; almost any piece of software potentially infringes at least that many patents." But what we have here is a bigger issue than Microsoft's spin or the risk of end-user liability from using open source. That issue is the dampening effect that market uncertainty causes and the expensive and ugly legal mess that intellectual property suits cause. The only winners in these cases are lawyers and occasionally one of the flotilla of intellectual property aggregators - the companies that acquire the property to shakedown product manufacturers. Two things need to happen. First, we need the laws changed to make software patents less easily abused. Second, we need Microsoft to stop with the incessant spin doctoring. Enough is enough, Steve! I believe there is a chance for the first thing to happen. There's a lot of pressure from U.S. developers and from the European Union to create a more rational patent system. As for the second, I hold out very little hope. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Study: Microsoft patents could threaten Linux IDG News Service, 08/02/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0802linuxstu.html Microsoft to indemnify most users from legal threats IDG News Service, 11/10/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1110microtoin.html Patent hoarders intensify protection issue IDG News Service, 11/18/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/1118patenhoard.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Mark Gibbs Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist and he writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. We'll spare you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go to <http://www.gibbs.com/mgbio>. Contact him at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored By BMC Software Linking IT Priorities to Business Objectives, an IDC whitepaper. Get insights from IDC on aligning business goals and IT priorities. IDC offers practical, actionable information on how Business Service Management can help you reduce operating costs, improve service levels, respond faster to business needs and protect delivery of business-critical. Click here to download this whitepaper now. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88746 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Gibbs archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gibbs.html Bradner archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/bradner.html _______________________________________________________________ Bandwidth or latency? How to solve application performance issues With more users at the edge, and more of the infrastructure at headquarters, how are enterprises increasing business productivity and application performance? Is more bandwidth the answer? Find out now. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=89267 _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE DOWNLOAD INDUSTRY WHITE PAPERS NOW NW Fusion's White Paper Library is your source for the latest industry white papers. Recent additions to the library include white papers on securing remote access, VOIP and productivity, domain name system best practices, WLAN security, IT documentation and much more. Click here to download: <http://www.nwfusion.com/vendorview/whitepapers.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. 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