--- In LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com, Roy <linuxcanuck@...> wrote:
>
> Afraid so. It's a done deal. The patent office in the US is in their pocket.
> They have a long history of patenting things that they did not invent. They
> call it rights elevator and not sudo and they are doing via GUI which gets
> around the previous use problem, but essentially they have patented what has
> been commonplace in Linux for years. So if we were to have a graphical
> interface for sudo we would be in violation of their patent. It is U.S.
> patent 7,617,530 and it was issued almost a year ago.
> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20091111094923390
> http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/microsoft-launches-open-source-net-package-manager-163
> http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Microsoft-to-Develop-own-Open-Source-Platform
>
A patent is worthless if there is prior art. Just because you get a patent does not mean that it is worth the paper it is printed on! Or if what is patented is obvious to practitioners in a field either.
I think one of my heroes sums up the whole patent debacle best:
http://www.tinaja.com/glib/casagpat.pdf
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