[Wolves] RAND (Reasonable And Non Discriminatory) licensing model

[Alex Willmer]

On Sun, 2008-05-25 at 14:41 +0530, Open Office wrote:
> This is new weapon some companies are using to fight FOSS

Welcome to Wolves LUG, Mr or Ms Office. 

> Please deannounce it. Do not use RAND protected software or code.
> (includes MONO, Moonlight, etc)
> 
> RAND (Reasonable And Non Discriminatory) licensing model.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory

RAND has been around for a few years now It's more usually applied to
standards, rather than software products. A classic example is the MP3
standard, which we're already wary of.

Mono is on thin ice concerning software patents on .NET, that Microsoft
may or may not hold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_(software)#Mono_and_Microsoft.E2.80.99s_patents

The patents are not covered under RAND terms. RAND requires disclosure
of relevant patents, it's uncertain how many Microsoft hold
concerning .NET. Finally, Microsoft have promised to indemnify Novell
customers only, that's as discriminatory as they come. 

RAND is one skirmish in the software patents battle, this is another.

Alex.