Red Hat's "Cowardice" against Software Patents

[Horst von Brand]

Eric S. Raymond <esr at thyrsus.com> wrote:
> Warren Togami <wtogami at redhat.com>:
> > Eric, you are completely divorced from reality if you truly think this
> > is safe and prudent.  You are essentially asking Red Hat to become a
> > martyr and destroy itself.  Would that really be good for the community?

> Negotiating an MP3 license with Fraunhofer (to give just one possible
> example) would not constitute self-destruction.

How do you know it hasn't been tried? In any case, what info is out there
on the matter clearly indicates the people in control of the license will
/never/ agree on an open-source version, so the point is more than moot.

> > What you advocate will not win this war in the long-run.  These are not
> > technical or community growth problems, but tough political and legal
> > issues that we cannot simply ignore because it would be convenient.

> Funny you should say that. "Ignore this issue" is exactly the response
> I seem to be seeing from most of the Fedora list.

The Fedora enthusiasts don't think that your current proposal has merit. So
you'd better look elsewhere for people sharing your view and helping you
implementing it.

> > The actions and resources Red Hat uses to fight software patents and
> > protect the future of FOSS is "corporate cowardice"?

> No, but refusing to carry MP3 decoders when there is no patent block
> on them is. 

Funny... seraching Google for 'mp3 patent' takes you directly to
<http://www.mp3licensing.com>, and in the patents listed at least "Process
for the detecting of errors in the transmission of frequency-coded digital
signals" would seem to apply...

> Whether there is such a patent block or not has been disputed.  I
> originally believed not, persons on this list have claimed there is,
> the person who made the "corporate cowardice" accusation says they're
> full of crap and suggests that I challenge them to produce a patent
> number.  I think he's making an unrealistic demand -- but it is a fact
> that SUSe carries encoders.  If SUSe can do it, why not Red Hat or
> Fedora?

Which SUSE? The paid one? No problem, they can pay for the codecs.
-- 
Dr. Horst H. von Brand                   User #22616 counter.li.org
Departamento de Informatica                     Fono: +56 32 654431
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