diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_26.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_26.html | 242 |
1 files changed, 242 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_26.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_26.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..4efd899a --- /dev/null +++ b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_26.html @@ -0,0 +1,242 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> +<html> +<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. + +Free Software Foundation + +51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor + +Boston, MA 02110-1335 +Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted +worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is +preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations +of this book from the original English into another language provided +the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and +the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all +copies. + +ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 +Cover design by Rob Myers. + +Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. + --> +<!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 +texi2html was written by: + Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) + Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> + Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> + and many others. +Maintained by: Many creative people. +Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> +--> +<head> +<title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 26. Microsoft's New Monopoly</title> + +<meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."> +<meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 26. Microsoft's New Monopoly"> +<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> +<meta name="distribution" content="global"> +<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} +blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} +pre.display {font-family: serif} +pre.format {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} +pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} +pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} +pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} +pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} +span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} +span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} +ul.toc {list-style: none} +--> +</style> +<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> + + +</head> + +<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> + +<a name="New-Monopoly"></a> +<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Microsoft_0027s-New-Monopoly"></a> +<h1 class="chapter"> 26. Microsoft’s New Monopoly </h1> + +<a name="index-patents_002c-historical-significance-of-OOXML-patent-problem-_0028see-also-Microsoft_0029"></a> +<a name="index-patents_002c-Microsoft-monopoly"></a> +<a name="index-Microsoft_002c-monopoly"></a> + +<blockquote class="smallquotation"> +<p>This article was written in July 2005. Microsoft adopted a different +policy in 2006, so the specific policies described below and the +specific criticisms of them are only of historical significance. The +overall problem remains, however: Microsoft’s cunningly worded new +policy (see +<a href="http://grokdoc.net/index.php/EOOXML_objections#Patent_rights_to_implement_the_Ecma_376_specification_have_not_been_granted">http://grokdoc.net/index.php/EOOXML_objections#Patent_rights_to_implement_the_Ecma_376_specification_have_not_been_granted</a>) +does not give anyone clear permission to implement OOXML.<br> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>European legislators who endorse software patents frequently claim +that those wouldn’t affect free software (or “open +source”). Microsoft’s lawyers are determined to prove they are +mistaken. +</p> +<p>Leaked internal documents in 1998 said that Microsoft considered +the free software GNU/Linux operating system (referred to therein as +<a name="index-_0060_0060Linux_002c_0027_0027-erroneous-use-of-term-_0028see-also-open-source_0029-4"></a> +“Linux”) as the principal competitor to +<a name="index-Windows-2"></a> +Windows, and spoke +of using patents and secret file formats to hold us back. +</p> +<p>Because Microsoft has so much market power, it can often impose +new standards at will. It need only patent some minor idea, design +a file format, programming language, or communication protocol +based on it, and then pressure users to adopt it. Then we in the +free software community will be forbidden to provide software that +does what these users want; they will be locked in to Microsoft, +and we will be locked out from serving them. +</p> +<p>Previously Microsoft tried to get its patented scheme for +spam blocking adopted as an Internet standard, so as to exclude free +software from handling email. The standards committee in charge +rejected the proposal, but Microsoft said it would try to convince +large +<a name="index-ISP-_0028Internet-Service-Provider_0029-1"></a> +ISPs to use the scheme anyway. +</p> +<a name="index-Word_002c-and-treacherous-computing-_0028see-also-treacherous-computing_0029"></a> +<p>Now Microsoft is planning to try something similar for Word +files. +</p> +<p>Several years ago, Microsoft abandoned its documented format for +saving documents, and switched to a new format which was secret. +However, the developers of free software word +<a name="index-processors"></a> +processors such as +<a name="index-AbiWord"></a> +AbiWord and +<a name="index-OpenOffice_002eorg-1"></a> +OpenOffice.org experimented assiduously for years to +figure out the format, and now those programs can read most Word +files. But Microsoft isn’t licked yet. +</p> +<p>The next version of Microsoft Word will use formats that involve a +technique that Microsoft claims to hold a patent on. Microsoft offers +a royalty-free patent license for certain limited purposes, but it is +so limited that it does not allow free software. You can see the +license here: <a href="http://microsoft.com/whdc/xps/xpspatentlic.mspx">http://microsoft.com/whdc/xps/xpspatentlic.mspx</a>. +</p> +<p>Free software is defined as software that respects four +fundamental freedoms: (0) freedom to run the software as you wish, +(1) freedom to study the source code and modify it to do what you +wish, (2) freedom to make and redistribute copies, and (3) freedom +to publish modified versions. Only programmers can directly +exercise freedoms 1 and 3, but all users can exercise freedoms 0 +and 2, and all users benefit from the modifications that +programmers write and publish. +</p> +<p>Distributing an application under Microsoft’s patent license +imposes license terms that prohibit most possible modifications of the +software. Lacking freedom 3, the freedom to publish modified versions, +it would not be free software. (I think it could not be “open +source” software either, since that definition is similar; but +it is not identical, and I cannot speak for the advocates of open +source.) +</p> +<a name="index-Microsoft_002c-license"></a> +<p>The Microsoft license also requires inclusion of a specific +statement. That requirement would not in itself prevent the program +from being free: it is normal for free software to carry license +notices that cannot be changed, and this statement could be included +in one of them. The statement is biased and confusing, since it uses +the term “intellectual property”; fortunately, +one is not required to endorse the statement as true or even meaningful, only to +include it. The software developer could cancel its misleading effect +with a disclaimer like this: “The following misleading statement +has been imposed on us by Microsoft; please be advised that it is +propaganda. See <a href="http://gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html">http://gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html</a> for more +explanation.” +</p> +<p>However, the requirement to include a fixed piece of text is +actually quite cunning, because anyone who does so has explicitly +accepted and applied the restrictions of the Microsoft patent +license. The resulting program is clearly not free software. +</p> +<a name="index-Microsoft_002c-and-GPL"></a> +<a name="index-GPL_002c-and-Microsoft-license"></a> +<p>Some free software licenses, such as the most popular GNU General +Public License (GNU GPL), forbid publication of a modified version if it isn’t +free software in the same way. (We call that the “liberty or +death” clause, since it ensures the program will remain free or +die.) To apply Microsoft’s license to a program under the GNU GPL +would violate the program’s license; it would be illegal. Many other +free software licenses permit nonfree modified versions. It wouldn’t +be illegal to modify such a program and publish the modified version +under Microsoft’s patent license. But that modified version, with its +modified license, wouldn’t be free software. +</p> +<a name="index-Word_002c-and-treacherous-computing-_0028see-also-treacherous-computing_0029-1"></a> +<p>Microsoft’s patent covering the new Word format is a US patent. +It doesn’t restrict anyone in Europe; Europeans are free to make +and use software that can read this format. Europeans that develop +or use software currently enjoy an advantage over Americans: +Americans can be sued for patent infringement for their software +activities in the US, but the Europeans cannot be sued for their +activities in Europe. Europeans can already get US software patents +and sue Americans, but Americans cannot get European software +patents if Europe doesn’t allow them. +</p> +<a name="index-European-Parliament-1"></a> +<p>All that will change if the European Parliament authorizes +software patents. Microsoft will be one of thousands of foreign +software patent holders that will bring their patents over to +Europe to sue the software developers and computer users there. Of +the 50,000-odd putatively invalid software patents issued by the +<a name="index-European-Patent-Office-1"></a> +European Patent Office, around 80 percent do not belong to Europeans. The +European Parliament should vote to keep these patents invalid, and +keep Europeans safe. +</p> +<a name="g_t2009-Note"></a> +<h3 class="subheading"> 2009 Note </h3> + +<p>The EU directive to allow software patents was +rejected, but the European Patent Office has continued issuing them +and some countries treat them as valid. +See <a href="http://ffii.org">http://ffii.org</a> for more information and +to participate in the campaign against software patents in Europe. +<a name="index-patents-3"></a> +<a name="index-patents_002c-historical-significance-of-OOXML-patent-problem-_0028see-also-Microsoft_0029-1"></a> +<a name="index-patents_002c-Microsoft-monopoly-1"></a> +<a name="index-Microsoft_002c-monopoly-1"></a> +</p> +<p>@part Part V:<br> The Licenses +@begingroup +@normalbottom +@interlinepenalty = -200 +</p> +<hr size="2"> +<table cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" border="0"> +<tr><td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_25.html#DSP" title="Previous section in reading order"> < </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_27.html#Licenses-Introduction" title="Next section in reading order"> > </a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left"> </td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[Contents]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_U.4.html#Index" title="Index">Index</a>]</td> +<td valign="middle" align="left">[<a href="scrap1_abt.html#SEC_About" title="About (help)"> ? </a>]</td> +</tr></table> +<p> + <font size="-1"> + This document was generated by <em>Christian Grothoff</em> on <em>February 18, 2016</em> using <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/"><em>texi2html 1.82</em></a>. + </font> + <br> + +</p> +</body> +</html> |