IBM's patent donations (was Re: [TriLUG] So did they get your quote right Jason?)

[Mike Johnson]

Jon Carnes wrote:
> The N&O interviewed Jason Tower for their recent story on IMB's donation
> of 500 patents to the OpenSource community.
> http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/2015131p-8398728c.html
> 
> Says Jason:
>  All in all, it's very magnanimous of IBM, and I hope this is indicative
> of a future strategy to embrace open source with actions and not just
> words. Nothing but good can come from this.

Heh.  I spoke with the reporter and said something entirely different.

Eh, what the hell, these are my thoughts.  Feel free to discuss:

I'm a pessimist and very skeptical of IBM's offer.  It seems like a 
publicity stunt and little more.  Are those particular patents really of 
use?  Perhaps they're about to expire.  I haven't seen a list of the 
particular patents (though it may exist).  I agree with the articles 
towards the end that if IBM was really serious about this, they'd take a 
less aggressive approach to software patents in general.  If you look at 
IBM's portfolio of patents (I believe they hold more patents than any 
other company), five hundred is a drop in the bucket.  IBM mentions that 
they indend to reserve the right to enforce patents when other companies 
want to sell software related to IBM's patents.  This isn't what Open 
Source is all about.  If you look at the BSD license (my favorite), code 
under that license may be bundled up and sold, as long as credit is 
given.  This will directly conflict with IBM's 'opening' of their 
patents, as it still restricts the use of software that uses one of 
IBM's patents.

Really, I haven't had the time to totally drink this in, but it smells 
like little more than a publicity stunt.


Mike