Linux - head in the sand?
As a follow on from the previous c|net posting - Don Newman points out that Open Source Risk Management isn't releasing the list of potential patent infringements, doing so would put linux in the wrong, ignorance is bliss (apparently)... so what does this mean for linux customers? - If you build a device based on Linux and are not aware of the list of patents you are infringing that doesn't make things right, does it? - for example, in UK law theft is described (in "points to prove") as "to dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intent to permanently deprive", if all portions of this are met then you have broken the law whether you know it or not - doesn't this also apply to software patents?, just because you didn't know you were breaking a patent doesn't make it right, surely...
So who's going to get hit with this, the customer using a Linux based device, the distributor, developers? - looks like a bit of a minefield to me...
- Mike