The OSP and You

re: The OSP and You

Carolinerosario — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:04:17 GMT

re: The OSP and You

duvan 1120 — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:19:17 GMT

contacto la profesora cecilia

re: The OSP and You

Swampitieme — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:01:14 GMT

In the middle is a serious book, the first I read in years! And it was very interesting. For your guests, having the option of choosing an item from a gift registry takes away the anxiety surrounding what gift to give. Choose practical everyday items that you know you will use, as well as a few sentimental, non-necessary items, such as a nice vase or a leather photo album. And then he capitalizes on the contrast he's created a straw man of. For those 15 years old, the following requirements must be met: Parental consent must be obtained.

re: The OSP and You

Blademaster — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:50:17 GMT

ot nego se prizovava drug ork

re: The OSP and You

Stanislav Danielov Georgiev — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:47:45 GMT

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re: The OSP and You

!Appenoodorads! — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:49:32 GMT

Where is your ?

Elect ?

Offers brand name ?

Don't beat me!

re: The OSP and You

codeslinger — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:03:31 GMT

if you really want to try something radical, how about reconsidering the whole concept of software patents? Fact is they really don't make sense.

Microsoft has personally been at the receiving end of some hugely costly patent infringement lawsuits (activeX etc.). So I really can't blame you for being very aggressive in seeking patents of your own. But come on, 3000 patent applications per year!! absurd!

The world would be a much better place if everyone would agree to do away with software patents altogether and switch to copyright protection which is far more appropriate for written material such as computer programs.

Some Reasons why software patents aren't valid:

Did you know that software was not patentable for many years, and that all of the major developments that we depend upon, the entire internet infrastructure was created without patents? If everything had been proprietary there would be no intercommunication instead we would be stuck in endless fragmentary world of ipx vs arcnet vs token ring vs bitnet, ad nauseam with nobody able to talk to anybody else. But because people were for a brief time in history, willing and able to focus on the greater good of humanity, they came together in unselfish ways and created the universal standards that we all now benefit from.

Did you know that there are now so many different patents that it is impossible to write any program no matter how trivial without being in violation of something somewhere? Programmers are walking blindfolded through a minefield. And sooner or later it will blow up in your face, it is just a question of when.

Have you considered the fundamental difference between a mechanical device which continues essentially unchanged for decades, versus software with a typical lifespan of about 5 years which is protected by a patent with a span of 15 years.... Does that make any sense? Protecting a 5 to 8 year product with a 15 year contract? The patent system was created in an era of slow changes and long product lifespans. It is not a good fit to apply it to something like software which is a very different world from the one in which patents were conceived.

Have you considered the first principle of a patent, the purpose of which was to get companies to disclose their products which would otherwise remain a trade secret... the deal is that by providing *complete* information on how to build a particular device the company would be granted a time limited monopoly on selling that device, after which it would revert to the public domain for the benefit of all. Based on this principle, it should be required that the complete source code of your program be published in order that it becomes possible for others to study it in sufficient detail that they can reproduce the functionality. So where is all of that source code? Without the source code the patent system is essentially granting protection to a trade secret.... this is entirely contrary to the original spirit and intent of the patent system.

Have you considered the wholesale abandonment of the principle requirement that to be patentable something has to be non-obvious to a practitioner sufficiently skilled in the field. Why has this principle been abandoned, why do we have such totally absurd patents on things like a mouse click?

Have you considered that the patent office can not possibly be expected to cope with the onslaught of tens of thousands of software patents per year. Nobody could possibly track all of that. Thus they tend to rubber stamp everything and let the courts duke it out at huge cost and risk and with arbitrary results.

Do you really want to spend the rest of you life looking over your shoulder waiting for the next $500 million blindside by someone who never did more that put a vague overly broad concept on a piece of paper and send it off. Then they wait until their unsuspecting prey does all the research and development and marketing to actually create the product, and they suddenly swoop in for the kill like they did to Blackberry, how can you possibly run a business with such a high risk and uncertainty? And how completely unjust that some joker who never invested an once of energy should be allowed to extort money from you in that scenario.

For all of those reasons and more, we need to seriously consider dumping this whole insane concept of software patents, it is a detriment to the entire human race.

The Patent system was intended to benefit humanity, and to encourage investment into product research, but when applied to software in it's present form it is having exactly the opposite effect. Since it is becoming nearly impossible to create a software product that is not going to be in violation of somebodies vague and overly broad but patented idea somewhere, then there is not much point in going to all the trouble of creating a new software product is there? The patent system has become a major disincentive to creating new software products.

Seems like the only thing we can do right now is to wait 15 years until all these silly patents expire, and then we can get back to work. Or we can rethink this insanity.

re: The OSP and You

André — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:47:53 GMT

The OSP raises some doubts if it is legally enforcable on an international scale. Amy Marasco and others failed to respond to the concerns. Probably they believe the world is just the US. The Q&A you linked is just more of the same old marketing gibber as the real questions are not asked.

Generally speaking legal documents are not related to "how you feel" about things. The question is if the OSP fulfills its stated objectives and works. Instead of thinking in a developer way and receiving community input to help to improve it the text is just being defended. This undermined trust in the OSP and affirmed the suspicion of a hidden agenda.

I understand that patent indemnification is a legal subject in breeding stage. No one really knows how to do it right. Private law is internationally very much different and who says he understands all strings attached is a lier or a bad lawyer. But when Marasco on the one hand lobbies for hardcore RAND provisions at ISO and ITU, and Microsoft throws everything it can to undermine document interoperability initiatives at the governmental level (just think of the moderate EIFv1 and how the EU has been bullied) the OSP does not come out of very credible hands. Instead you feel there is a party that wants to screw you up. Yes, here the feeling comes into play, on the trust level.

It is a communication problem of your lawyers, for sure.

Sam Ramji - history.forward()

frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:37:11 GMT

We are hosting a confab in Seattle this week with fellow evangelists from around the world. We kicked

re: The OSP and You

Sam Ramji — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:20:15 GMT

There has been no change. This note from Richard is an official clarification of the meaning and intent. Consider it an official commentary from Microsoft on the OSP.

re: The OSP and You

Brendan — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:23:07 GMT

You imply there has been a change to either the osp or its interpretation but don't identify what the change is. If there has been a change please show what it is or link to the change. Markup would be nice

Microsoft participation and contribution to Open Source steps up

Me about things... — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:31:40 GMT

Sam Ramji, Senior Director of Platform Strategy, just announced in his blog (from the OSCON conference

history.forward()

Port 25: The Open Source Community at Microsoft — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:21:53 GMT

I’m writing this from Portland, Oregon where one of the world’s largest Open Source conferences is taking