EFF Supports Microsoft in Seeking to Make it Easier to Invalidate Patents | Hacker News Reader

EFF Supports Microsoft in Seeking to Make it Easier to Invalidate Patents

eff.org

62 pointsthere9 comments

You know, I'm always impressed with the clarity that the EFF posts explain their situations and how they affect them/us. If every group took such trouble to explain their cause, they'd have more supporters by the simple virtue that people could actually understand what they're saying, rather than wading though mountains of misdirection and propaganda.

Or maybe I'm just so used to wading through the EFF's particular brand of misdirection and propaganda that I don't notice it anymore...

EFF has a conceptually simple mission, and the things are trying to accomplish are generally good for the public at large, so they have nothing to hide behind doublespeak. Most "special interests" would be harmed by a large portion of the general public understanding the full implications of their goals, but the EFF is really in it for the good of normal individuals.

I know we're probably going to see a lot of "Wha? Microsoft are a bunch of hypocrites!" in this thread and I urge everyone to just think of how great things would be going forward if we can see some changes like this.

We can't change the past, but we can sure as hell change the future. Glad to see MS trying to lend a hand.

This is Microsoft trying to invalidate a patent they don't like, not them "trying to lend a hand". It just happens to overlap with our interests. Which is exactly what they should be doing, as a corporation.

Microsoft doesn't have a history of patent lawsuit trolling. To the degree that Microsoft does seek software patents it is generally as a matter of defense against other large corporations.

I think the possibility that MS might be trying to do the right thing here, for everybody not just themselves, is reasonably high and shouldn't be dismissed. At the end of the day MS is a developer centric company, they pride themselves on the ability to make things, and patents are an annoying side show to that.

There were at least these cases which seem trollish:

MS vs. TomTom

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/chewing-the-fat-in-the-m...

MS vs. Salesforce

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2341-microsoft-patent-trolls-...

Indeed... Believing Microsoft won't patent-troll is like believing Oracle when they say'd they're against Software Patents. It's just a matter of time when some CEO will notice a good opportunity to make money with patents.

But I digress... Currently Microsoft isn't doing anything evil. Making software patents harder to get is clearly a step in the right direction.

But it's far from Microsoft saving us all from software patents.

"Currently Microsoft isn't doing anything evil."

Heh, heh: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2...

No longer true.

Wha? Microsoft are a bunch of hypocrites!

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1748220

Reply on news.ycombinator.com