If someone from M$ were to contribute to kernel development, I don't
think it would "poison" the kernel. It could be equally argued that M$
"gave away" their IP (officially or not -- what a way for an ex-employee
to get revenge!). Besides, the way the kernel code works, each author of
each patch or module is responsible for it. If there were a lawsuit,
only the offending code would be attacked or removed. This is sort of
like what BSD did. They rewrote AT&T code from scratch.
This is also something that demonstrates that the FSF is wrong in their
desire to "own" the copyrights to the entire kernel code. If the FSF
"owned" the copyrights to the kernel code, the M$ could just attack one
organization. But since so many different people "own" different parts
of the code, and the code has no official central organization, it would
be very tough for them to sue. If they did sue, it would be just one
person -- the one who wrote the code. They can't blame Linus for using
it necessarily because the comparison could be made that he is simply a
"common carrier" in much the same way as an ISP or the Telephone
Company.
Russell
____________________________________________________
Without sharing, there would be no Internet
Without the Internet, there would be no sharing
Share your code, share your source
-- Let's build something as great as the Internet!
----------
>From: Ed Centanni <ecentan1@tampabay.rr.com>
>To: slug@nks.net
>Subject: Re: [SLUG] Tonight's Presentation
>Date: Sun, May 13, 2001, 22:22
>
> patrick wrote:
>>
>> On Sunday 13 May 2001 09:38 pm, you wrote:
>> > patrick wrote:
>> > <snip>
>> >
>> > > in this day u better have some powerful to replace else with.
>> > > Linux is quite powerful. i just read the other day that some
>> > > guy that used to work for microsoft has been messing
>> > > with the kernal and has has 3x performance increases in
>> > > some areas with it. he even mentioned wanted to write
>> > > some code for Linux, hopefully the kernal. isnt that cool
>> >
>> > <snip>
>> >
>> > NO IT'S NOT!
>> >
>> > Microsoft would dearly love to be able to claim that some part of the
>> > Linux kernel was "stolen" or adapted from their proprietary ideas or
>> > code. I really don't want ANYONE who has ever seen any part of
>> > microsoft code to be working on the Linux kernel regardless of their
>> > motives or expertise. It's just too easy for good lawyers (and MS has
>> > plenty!) to create trouble with intellectual property issues. It's
>> > unfortunate if someone with the best of intentions and who can really
>> > make a contribution has to be rejected but the danger is real and the
>> > freedoms we enjoy must be protected by keeping the kernel free from any
>> > claim of non-original code.
>> >
>> >
>> > Ed.
>>
>> thats very interesting. i didnt realize that microsoft could
>> actually do that. the Linux kernal is not microsoft product.
>> so how could microsoft sue. give me some details.
>> thanks
>
> Ask the people who tried to publish "The Wind Done Gone" a parody of
> "Gone with The Wind"
>
> Ed.
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