On Friday 31 August 2007 13:14, Raj Mathur wrote:
On Friday 31 August 2007 11:50, Rahulkrishna Gupta wrote:
[snip]
- Speculation!!
- Also I would suggest you to read Clause 11( related to patents)
of GPL v3 in its entirety . I am not lawyer not do I have any legal background. But it doesn't it mention something about agreements made prior to 28 March 2007. [more snip]
If you want the story as it currently stands, MS has painted itself into a corner, and presumably its partners will also suffer the fallout:
Microsux Says It Is Not Bound by GPLv3: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2155119,00.asp
Microsux cannot declare itself exempt from the requirements of GPLv3: http://www.fsf.org/news/microsoft_response
The patent agreement is likely to cause MS and allies more heartache than profit in the foreseeable future.
And while M$ and partners continue in their deranged ways with patents and OOXML vote buying in Sweden, Denmark, Vietnam and elsewhere, customers who come to use freesoftware get bitten by the not-so-free-software disguised as opensource. All though this was not the intention of opensource promoters, the opensource monicker is being ruthless exploited to the point where it will actually end up locking in the customer or expose him to litigation.
In hindsight RMS un comprimising stand on freedom rings truer everyday.