On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 11:51:25AM +1300, Craig Box wrote:
If Microsoft tell the world what patents it thinks Linux is violating, then they will simply rewrite the infringing code, and all of a sudden Microsoft's case goes away. They don't want that. They want to continue being able to attack, so this will Never Happen (tm).
You can't rewrite the code to make it go away if the patent covers something broad or trivial like something that filesystems or servers already do (eg the method of storing long filenames side-by-side with 8.3 filenames, or making a purchase with 1-click of the customer's mouse). The big problem here is bad patents being allowed to be granted. Given the choice of paying a small amount of money to licence something, or fight it in court to get an obvious patent invalidated, what would you (or your boss) prefer to do with your time? John