[Gllug] Software patents, Microsoft & free software

[Alain Williams]

On Tue, Oct 02, 2001 at 04:36:18AM +0100, Nick Hill wrote:
> A letter I sent to the guardian this morning:
Good on you.

Minor comments for those that may write something similar.

> The free and open software originally written for running the backbone of the internet is ready for the
> desktop.  It is a surprise to many people how much effort and dedication has been put into free software
> by programmers, who have mostly made no financial gain of their own.  Much of it has been a
> socially-conscious labour of love.  I really feel I want to contribute to help those who have helped me.
This ignores the very important source of Open Source S/ware: people who write something to help them get
their job done and then share it with others; this leads to a cooperating group of
programmers/administrators who each benefit themselves & their organisations. This leads to greater
productivity and a lowering of costs.

The last point is important: there is a misconception that if s/ware is written by private individuals
then it is axiomatically of poor quality. Above I make is plain that professionals are also involved.

> The cost of creating a new software process is small.  In fact, most programmers through the process of
> making even a simple program, will create (and possibly destroy in re-writing) software processes which
> are patentable.
In writing a program a programmer will make use of a huge number of 'components' much more than is used in
many hard products (eg trucks, can openers, cameras, ...) - each component will need to be checked against
a patent directory.

> Patent law was originally formulated to encourage the publishing of technology in exchange for a period
> of monopoly over the technology.  Software patents will do exactly the opposite.  They will prevent the
> publishing of software source code, the only form of software intelligible to man, through fear of the
> author being sued.  Software patents will kill free software development and put control of software
> firmly in the hands of very rich corporations.
More to the point: Patent law was formulated to encourage the development of new ideas/inventions/... at a
time when innovation had stalled because innovators could not recover the development costs as others took
their ideas. Lack of innovation in software is not a problem and so software patents are not needed.
Software patents would slow innovation due to the high costs of patent searches and consequential elimination
of the smaller organisations. It is the smaller software organisations that tend to be most initiative.

Software patents would thus frustrate the original intention of patents by producing the opposite effect -
ie slowing innovation.


There is a lovely quote in the Linux Journal that landed on my doorstep this morning. I can't remember the
exact words but it talks of s/ware patent users as a bunch of parasites that would otherwise find it
difficult to open a can or beer -- much better put than I can remember.

-- 
Alain Williams

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