The Internets are buzzing in response to Roger Parloff’s lengthy piece in Fortune this week, which chronicles the ongoing saga the Microsoft and Novell patent/interoperability deal. Personally, I think it’s a pretty balanced piece, but it doesn’t paint Microsoft as a knuckle-dragging, puppy-kicking monopolist focused on the destruction of Free Software, Motherhood and Apple Pie…so, others predictably disagree.
The majority of the discussion at Groklaw and Slashdot is devoted to simply attacking Microsoft’s patents, the patentability of software at all, and the Microsoft business strategy. It’s a fun little exercise for all of the software patent haters and wannabe lawyers, but here is why it’s just a sideshow:
The issue no one is discussing is what it all means in the context of GPLv3 and the future of the Free Software and Open Source communities. As Eben Moglen said in the piece:
"As the commercial confrontation between
[free software] and software-that’s-a-product becomes more fierce, patent law’s going to be the terrain on which a big piece of the war’s going to be fought. Waterloo is here somewhere."The FSF wants a patent armageddon. They want a Waterloo and they’re hoping not be Napoleon in that tired metaphor. Novell and Microsoft proved there was a way for open source companies to collaborate with proprietary companies and even license software patents for the benefit of consumers. GPLv3 is designed to end that practice and to make Free Software completely incompatible with the software patents that Stallman loathes so much.
I’ll provide deeper analysis of the broader meaning in my next post. For now, however, it is safe to say Jonathan was right and we’re now approaching the Eve of the Bonfire.