Re: Clarification on the Mono and MS .NET issue

Originally Posted by
alternatealias
If Ubuntu ships the Windows.Forms addon, then that is a separate issue from whether or not core Mono is safe.
As far as a RAND-Z promise, talk to the GNU developers working on Portable.NET or send an email to Microsoft itself for confirmation.
Here is a quote from Jim Miller from the Microsoft .NET team:
The ECMA process requires that all patents held by member companies that are essential for implementing its standards are available under "reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms" for the purpose of
implementing those Standards. This is the normal condition used in all
International Standards organizations, including both ECMA and ISO.
But Microsoft (and our co-sponsors, Intel and Hewlett-Packard) went
further and have agreed that our patents essential to implementing C#
and CLI will be available on a "royalty-free and otherwise RAND" basis
for this purpose.
Satisfied?
Saying that the patents "will be available" is NOT the same thing as the licenses existing.
If I write book and state that I will make that book available for anyone to read at no cost, that does not mean that Prentice-Hall or Barnes&Noble can just go ahead and print off a bunch of copies and give them away. I am the one who determines when and how those books are to be available for free reading. If you infer that my statement grants license to all publishers to print and hand out free copies, I must tell you, you are WRONG. I still retain the rights to negotiate the terms of how people get to read my book (at no cost). I might choose a different publisher or bookstore, or might give copies to libraries, or I might individually meet everyone wanting one and give them a handwritten copy. None of those things are specified in my statement and it would be completely misguided to suggest that I ever implied I was sacrificing such options.
THAT is precisely analogous to what has been uttered by every Microsoft employee (including Mr Miller) who has spoken on the topic of .NET's ECMA-covered patents over the last six years. Yes, Microsoft will make the patent licensing available, and not even charge you money. But you still need to negotiate your licensing with them. This is precisely what Novell has done, negotiated a license with Microsoft so that they themselves (Novell) can use that patented technology. That doesn't mean that everyone else falls under the same licensing agreement.
And what I am discussing here is NOT limited to Windows.forms, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET. It is about the ECMA-covered technologies which everybody feels so damned confident about using because leaders of the Mono Project either can't parse simple English statements, or they are intentionally lying.
If you want to argue whether or not Microsoft patents are valid (such as Smartboyathome has suggested), I can accept that and would support anyone in their battle against any software patent.
But when the Mono Project FAQ states that "Basically a grant is given to anyone who want to implement those components for free and for any purpose", IT IS WRONG!
Last edited by saulgoode; June 12th, 2008 at 10:39 AM.
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