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author | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2020-10-11 13:29:45 +0200 |
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committer | Christian Grothoff <christian@grothoff.org> | 2020-10-11 13:29:45 +0200 |
commit | 1ae0306a3cf2ea27f60b2d205789994d260c2cce (patch) | |
tree | 53117a55c27601e92172ea82f1d8cd11d355c06c /talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_26.html | |
parent | 2e665813a44988bfd906c0fab773f82652047841 (diff) | |
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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_26.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_26.html deleted file mode 100644 index 6df2a76..0000000 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/scrap1_26.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,231 +0,0 @@ -<!-- 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. - --> - - - <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> - |