George Osvald wrote:
On Thursday 17 May 2007, James D. Parra wrote:
This is a good article;
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12212/53/
"Even if hypothetically there are patent infringements in the Linux kernel, then the open source community would do the right thing and remove the offending code and, because open source development moves so rapidly, that means Linux would no longer be infringing before it even got to court. So even if Microsoft did have a case, by the time it got to court the case would be gone and whatever damages that they were able to ask for would be very minimal."
The main point is that Linux kernel is a free software. Nobody sells kernel directly. Linux distributors are earning money by packaging and providing service/support. So if nobody ever sold kernel to anybody the amount owing to Microsoft in royalties is ZERO. If there is any code resembling Microsoft coding I doubt it can ever be used in court. Show me anyone going through billions lines of code since 20 years ago. Besides Linux is based on UNIX and UNIX was here before Microsoft so if there is any resemblance who is copying who?
If Microsoft ever started talking specifics, about any little thing, they would be dead. Completely and totally dead. There is no way they can engage the "community" on ANY specific topic without debasing, degrading themselves into the lowest of realms. Ain't gonna happen. Not now. Not ever. They can't. I wouldn't either. I wish them well, I really do. But the open source kernel has already taken over. Its just not common knowledge/press yet. Will be soon enough. It's already happened. Just the ripples need to go thru yet. Anyway, the xorg/ati thing is really ticking me off! Totally! I like the open source, but it DOES have its drawbacks. Pain in the ass thing, the display being mostly dorked. But, the system, and daemons are running fine. No problem with the stuff running, just the display twisted. Solid core, flaky top. At least you don't need to re-boot! Anoche, JF -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org