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[the_leander]

How wrong of me to assume that MP's supposedly tech savvy would be able to opperate something as simple as an email client... Let alone the complex consiquences in having full unrestricted software patenting (even America has some protections for things such as Univercity projects (such as BSD).

point in case. (Email and R/L addresses have been edited, but it is as the original was word for word)

In-Reply-To: <4782AD6ADDBDD2119B570008C75DD5C109C88F2B@MGMTM0 2>
To: "STENTON, Deborah" <XXXXXXX@parliament.uk>
Subject: RE: FW: Software Patents
X-Mailer: BeMail - Mail Daemon Replacement 2.3.0 Final
From: "Alan Fisher" <XXXXXXXX@supanet.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 15:33:55 +0100 BST
Message-Id: <905550177-BeMail@Ephemeris>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hi there,

> Dear Mr Fisher
>
> You have omitted your address and I would be grateful if you would
> forward
> it to me.
>

[mild amusement]
erm... then how did I get this reply? (No offence intended)
[/mild amusement]

XXXXXXXX@supanet.com

> Regards
>
> Deborah Stenton
> Constituency Assistant to Meg Munn MP
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Fisher [mailto:XXXXXXX@supanet.com]
> Sent: 10 June 2004 04:29
> To: STENTON, Deborah
> Subject: Re: FW: Software Patents
>
> Greetings,
>
> If you could forward this on to Megg Munn I'd be greatful, though I'd
> be even more greatful if it was acted upon.
>
> Whilst I do apologise for getting back in touch so soon but I feel
> that
> I should press for an answer on this issue. Though events in the past
> few weeks have made it necesary...
>
> This week it was announced that thanks to the Irish MEP (he's the
> bloke
> who's sponsored by Microsoft) the various clever refinements that
> would
> deny the huge multinationals (Microsoft, SCO, Sun, and to a much
> lesser extent IBM) the ability to simply wipe our own software
> industry, were removed and the original suggestion for software
> patents
> put forward. That not being bad enough it was actually voted through
> thanks to several 180's by other nations MEPs (most notably the
> Germans
> who had up until that point refused to even consider the prospect due
> in part to their own growing Software industry).
>
> Now you might think, so what? If Linux and other less well known
> projects are effectively made illegal by Microsoft and others, who
> cares?
>
> You might if you consider that about 50% of ALL web servers currently
> in service on the net run a version of Linux or a BSD variant. Let us
> not forget that every threat that Microsoft has ever come up against
> in
> the software industry has come off second best, Netscape, Be, Sendo
> and
> dozens of other companies have all been bankrupted by the sheer scale
> of Microsoft.
>
> Only IBM to my knolledge has survived going toe to toe with the
> Redmond
> based company and then only by virtue of the fact that IBM were at
> the
> time almost as big as Microsoft and could tap other markets to keep
> going. Software companies simply cannot take on Microsoft any more,
> they are too big now to tackle. Linux and others are free, and
> although
> funded by various companies (IBM most notably - they hold grudges
> like
> no other company I know of) offers no real target to Microsoft - thus
> its lawyers cannot decapitate it, and being written as a labour of
> love
> by its authors rather then salleried workers, cannot be bankrupted.
> (BSD was a university project and is as such protected by its roots
> and
> by the fact that it also is free).
>
> Software patents could (And given Microsofts record its almost a
> given
> that it would be the first under the kosh) however make Linux
> Illegal,
> by patenting say... the kernel (the heart of the operating system) or
> the X windowing system or even something more broad, such as some of
> the technologies X employs Linux would be rendered dead in the water.
>
> Linux and the others are litterally the only way that Microsofts
> dominance of the PC will ever be broken (I would have said that that
> wasn't always the case as the US DOJ had Redmond by the balls were
> then
> forgiven under the current US administration... Go figure). By
> accepting this into UK law or even allowing our MEPs to push this
> beyond its current state we will be stuck with a wholly unacountable
> company who's record on security/responsibility is laughable (And as
> such totally unacceptable) and who's presence has retarded both the
> software and hardware industries development to such an extent that
> both are now in crisis, continue on well into the future unabated.
>
> >
> > Thank you for your email. Due to strict Parliamentary Protocol Meg
> > can only
> > deal with issues raised by her constituents. Please would you send
> > me your
> > address so I can pass on your concerns to Meg.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Deborah Stenton
> > Constituency Assistant to Meg Munn MP
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Alan Fisher [mailto:XXXXXX@supanet.com]
> > Sent: 19 May 2004 19:23
> > To: XXXXX@parliament.uk
> > Subject: Software Patents
> >
> >
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I was wondering what if anything the current government was going
> > to
> > do
> > to limit the possibility of big name players in the software
> > industry
> > from buying up key patents in order to harm, limit or outright
> > destroy
> > the Free Software movement (Things such as Linux, BSD and other,
> > smaller projects). I ask because companies such as Microsoft have a
> > nasty habit of crushing their competition at the first chance they
> > get
> > and in doing so abusing their posission of dominance within the
> > industry (Netscape, Be Inc and others have all fallen to Redmonds
> > nasty
> > tactics.)
> >
> > I worry about this issue because I cannot see anything other then
> > Linux, which has no firm target for Redmonds lawyers to decapitate
> > being able to offer anything other then a token challenge to
> > Microsoft.
> >
> > I'm given to understand that you are quite tech savvy so I look
> > forward
> > to your take on things.
> >
>
> --
> Regards,
> Alan Fisher
>
> XXXXXXXXXX

[that_punk_guy]

Did they mean postal (snail) address?

[smithy]

Let us not forget that every threat that Microsoft has ever come up against in the software industry has come off second best, Netscape, Be, Sendo and dozens of other companies have all been bankrupted by the sheer scale of Microsoft.

Yes, but this has nothing to do with software patents. Your email sounds more like an anti-Microsoft rant, copied from straight from slashdot, dressed up as concern over software patents...

This week it was announced that thanks to the Irish MEP(he's the bloke who's sponsored by Microsoft) the various clever refinements that would deny the huge multinationals (Microsoft, SCO, Sun, and to a much lesser extent IBM) the ability to simply wipe our own software industry, were removed and the original suggestion for software patents put forward.

...not to mention being inaccurate in places. The open source/free/whatever they like to be called movement has painted IBM as some kind of perfect hero... Maybe you'd be interested to know that IBM has far more software patents than anybody else in the world. In fact, they register hundreds of new patents every month.

Also interesting is that Microsoft is not a big user of a legal action. They rarely initiate legal action... most of their cases are brought against them. Your email is complaining about the threat of Microsoft, yet you give no examples of them doing such a thing, even in the USA where software patents exist. Microsoft tends to compete in the marketplace, whereas its competitors like to whinge a lot and compete in the courtroom.

Even more interesting is that Microsoft is as much a victim of software patents as anyone else. Not long ago a small company in California, whose only purpose was to register patents was awarded half a billion dollars over their running-applications-in-a-browser patent. The decision has since been overturned, but the point is that big companies are as vulnerable as small ones or individuals.