Borland: patents suck, no general solution for OSS available
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In early May it became apparent to a large public that some Microsoft Windows programs could not be brought to run on Linux because of a patent held by Borland, which affects the Windows Emulator (Wine) and GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). Borland's Chief Scientist Danny Thorpe began a public dialog. Although Thorpe repeated Borland's traditional attitude that patents "suck" and are collected for defensive purposes only, the problem appeared difficult to solve.
Salient Quotes
From the original weblog article of Borland's chief scientist Danny Thorpe and reader feedback:
Danny Thorpe (Borland):
- Patents suck, sure, but it's the system that we're given. If you're seeking reassurance that some artifact won't be used to sabotage a project, just ring the doorbell and ask.
Steven Edwards:
- I asked Borland about this years ago and I was told a rough estimate on licensing costs that was far beyond what any free software project could pay.
Hubert Lepicki:
- Well, you say that "patents suck". I agree. But what Borland should do about this? Maybe you guys should consider changing your patent policy - first of all - open your patents for open source projects, and then
- lobby against software patents.
Gerasimos Melissaratos:
- I believe IBM has a publicly stated policy (I think it's "we won't sue if it's used in an OSS project"). What is Borland's policy? Should every OSS developer who wants to use a Borland patented technique go and ring the bell?
More about the Wine case
Similar patents have been granted to Borland in Europe and will be difficult to attack once the EU Council's draft is accepted without substantial amendments. Please read the FFII documentation.
