Re: Red Hat on patent FUD

[Roy Schestowitz]

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____/ RonB on Saturday 21 March 2009 19:05 : \____

> On Sat, 21 Mar 2009 04:38:19 -0500, Roy Schestowitz
> <newsgroups@schestowitz.com> wrote:
> 
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>> ____/ Doug Mentohl on Tuesday 17 March 2009 18:49 : \____
>>
>>> 'the purpose of this portfolio is defensive .. because of the threats of
>>> companies that are hostile to FOSS and that have amassed large
>>> stockpiles of overbroad patents'
>>>
>>> 'Although there have been some recent questions about one of our patent
>>> applications relating to the AMQP specification, they appear to
>>> originate in an attempt to spread FUD. There’s no reasonable, objective
>>> basis for controversy'
>>>
>>>
http://www.press.redhat.com/2009/03/17/discouraging-software-patent-lawsuits/
>>
>> It's not really FUD.
>>
>> The former head of the FFII is sure to publicise information which
>> suggests that Red Hat is not or was not serious about ending software
>> patents. People should not let them off the hook so easily.
> 
> So... are you against any commercial sales of Linux?

No, see the following for details:

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/03/18/amqp-patents-red-hat/
http://boycottnovell.com/2009/03/21/novl-rht-software-patents/

I too defended Red Hat on this until I discovered the other side of the story.


> Red Hat has stated 
> (over and over) that their patents are for defensive purposes. The company
> depends on open source development to survive. Do you think that, at some
> point, they'll say "Okay, we can take it from here, no more open
> development... it's all ours now" Have they done ANYTHING to indicate that
> this is the direction they will be going in the future?
> 
> Some people seem to be willing to cut off their noses to spite their face.
> I just don't get it.



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