Author: JT Smith
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Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
The W3C’s proposed policy on patents in standards has provoked a storm
of criticism. Many developers and leaders of the Open Source movement
have spoken out against RAND licensing and its potential threat to the
development of the web, including Adam Warner, the Free Software
Foundation, Bruce Perens, Richard Stallman, Tim Bray, James Clark,
Simon St. Laurent, H. Peter Anvin, Len Bullard, Alan Cox, Eric S.
Raymond, Jeremy Allison, John Gilmore, and more.
“The Web as a rich, evolving organism is on its way to the dustbin if
the World Wide Web Consortium goes through with its proposed W3C Patent
Policy Framework,” says Andy Oram, O’Reilly editor, in an editorial
posted on www.oreilly.com, “It would be understating the case to say
that the World Wide Web is facing the biggest challenge of its
history.”
The following is the text of a letter written by Dale Dougherty, to the
W3C concerning the proposed Patent Policy Framework:
O’Reilly & Associates, as a member of the W3C, objects to the proposed
Patent Policy Framework, dated August 16, 2001. We believe that the
Web’s success depends on fully open standards that can be implemented
without restrictions by open source developers as well as commercial
developers, large and small.
Therefore, we oppose RAND licensing as an option for W3C working groups
that are developing standards. W3C work should be done exclusively on
a Royalty-Free basis, as it has up until now. That is the only way
the W3C can ensure that a Web standard truly serves the public good. We
oppose RAND because requiring developers to pay is discriminatory.
We see the proposed patent policy framework as changing the rules of
the game at the midway point. This especially affects independent
developers who were the first to support the Web by implementing new
technology based on Web standards. One need only look to the wide
range of free XML tools to appreciate the tremendous contribution of
these developers.
The proposed patent policy framework states that “Members invest
significant research effort in the development of their own
intellectual property portfolios, so are concerned about protecting and
benefiting from proprietary technology they have developed or
acquired.” One must conclude that the W3C is really about maximizing
the investments of its members rather than increasing the public
benefit of the Web. The policy makes no mention of the interests of
those independent developers who have contributed heavily to the
success of the Web by investing in the development of non-proprietary
technology. The proposed policy states that the Web community has “a
longstanding preference for Recommendations that can be implemented on
a royalty-free (RF) basis.” It is much more than a preference; it is
an absolute requirement.
Under the proposed patent policy framework, the W3C commits to keeping
core standards royalty-free, but sets up the opportunity for “higher
layer” standards to be chartered under RAND licensing. The W3C will be
forced to decide whether a working group is working on a higher or
lower layer. One reason the W3C exists is that the IETF once
determined that the Web was a higher-level application, not deserving
of the same consideration as its lower-level protocols. The
distinction between high and low often proves meaningless and depends
on the interests of those drawing the maps of the layers.
We recognize that the proposed patent policy does attempt to address
the challenges that patents are presenting to collaborative standards
development. We support the W3C’s efforts to tighten the rules that
force the disclosure of patents and IPR of those involved in the
development of standards under the auspices of the W3C.
In fact, we’d like to see the W3C lead the Web community in fighting
the imposition of patent rights on the Web. As an international
organization, the W3C should take a global view of the public good and
oppose the narrow, US-centric view that rationalizes software and
business-method patents.
The Web is rooted in openness, much more radically so than any computer
system before it. The W3C should champion this radical view as the
reason why the Web flourished and the reason for the W3C’s existence.
It should not compromise its mission by granting its members the
ability to impose special rights and restrictions on the Web
community.
The W3C’s responsibility to the entire world of web users must come
before its obligations to its members. We would like to see Tim
Berners-Lee affirm his commitment to completely open standards and use
his position as the Director of the W3C as well as the inventor of the
Web to defend the Web against academic, governmental, or commercial
efforts to impose new restrictions. At the very least, the W3C should
not be endorsing such restrictions, as the patent policy framework
clearly does. W3C policy should seek to remove obstacles to openness
rather than accommodate members who come bearing patent portfolios.
In summary, we believe that there are no reasonable restrictions that
could be placed on Web standards, and the proposed patent policy
framework should be rejected because it introduces RAND licensing. To
do otherwise would erode the public’s confidence in the W3C as well as
alienate independent developers whose free and open source
implementations are critical to the Web’s ecology.”
For more information, see:
O’Reilly’s position on the proposed Patent Policy Framework
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/761
The proposed Patent Policy Framework draft itself:
http://www.w3.org/TR/patent-policy/
Patents, Royalties, and the Future of the Web
by Kendall Grant Clark
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/10/10/patents-web-future.html
A Web of Bronze, a Medium of Lead: Web Content at Risk in W3C’s Proposed
Patent Framework, By Andy Oram
http://www.oreilly.com/news/oram_patents_1001.html
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
It is also interesting that so little of the cost is in the system core. The motherboard, memory, case, cooler and drives are only a hair over
$3,200 of the total. If we discarded the most extravagant peripherals — dumping the Klipsch speakers and the Radeon and the DVD and
DDS drives, the cost would drop to a quite reasonable $4,200 or so.”
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
The Nasdaq composite ended the week at 1,703.14, up 96 points for the week and gaining six points over its previous recent high of 1,695.38 on Sept. 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rang the Friday bell at 9.344.02, losing 66 points from Thursday’s close, but still ends this week in better shape having gained a total of 225 points since last Friday.
The bigger picture
While major U.S. retailers, including Home Depot, posted major losses for their most recently concluded quarters, consumer confidence is actually better than in previous months. The University of Michigan’s preliminary October consumer sentiment index rose to 83.4 in October from 81.8 in September, but still remains at its lowest levels since 1992.
That sentiment, however, was tempered by Americans’ heightened fears for their personal safety. The recent FBI reports warning the nation to brace for further terrorist action and the discovery of a fourth case of Anthrax — this time an NBC News employee in New York — may erode this new-found optimism.
Big Blue sells big iron
IBM this week announced that it had sold yet another European Internet service provider on the merits of mainframe Linux. Finland broadband provider Sonera Entrum replaced its 60 servers running NT and various Unix flavors with a single, Linux-powered mainframe from Big Blue. Sonera Entrum’s new big iron runs 500 virtual servers, each using Red Hat’s Linux distribution.
Next week, the company is expected to announce a new low-power processor designed to extend the battery life of portable devices, like cell phones and handheld computers. Using special circuitry that shuts off portions of the chip when not in use, IBM executives say the new PowerPC 450LP processor cuts overall power consumption by as much 90 percent. More details about the new chip will be known next week, when IBM unveils its latest creation at the 2001 Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, Calif.
Business is booming right now for IBM, but analysts don’t think the company’s immediate future is all that bright. Following the Sept. 11 attacks that had weakened an already stagnating economy, IBM watchers revised their earnings forecasts, predicting that companies will eventually stop making major technology purchases and upgrades. Analysts are expecting the computer giant to post earnings of 90 cents a share on $20.76 billion in revenues, leading earnings down by 17 percent from the last quarter and 35 percent from the same quarter one year ago. The moment of truth will arrive on October 16, when the company makes its formal announcement.
Borland announces preliminary third quarter results
Borland Software International today announced its preliminary results for its fiscal third quarter, which ended on September 30. The company figures its revenues for the quarter will be between $54 million and $56 million, compared with $47.6 million for the third quarter of 2000. Borland expects to post earnings in the range of five to seven cents per diluted share. BORL closed down 44 cents to 9.21 following Monday’s announcement, but rebounded to close Friday at $10.40, eliminating that loss and then some.
Shipping delays for MandrakeSoft
Customers waiting for their Mandrake-Linux 8.1 CDs to show up in the mail will have to wait for a few a more weeks. The packaged version of the popular Linux distribution should have shipped by the end of September, but MandrakeSoft encountered problems with setting up its new manufacturing facilities in the United States. Citing extremely high software import tariffs, the company decided to move its North American production to the United States, beginning with production of version 8.1 of Mandrake-Linux. According to the company’s Web site, the two-CD packaged version will start shipping next week, with the Power Pack version to be mailed at the end of the month. The latest version of Mandrake-Linux is available for download from the company’s Web site.
Ballmer blasts Sun’s Liberty Alliance
Sun Microsystems made headlines a few weeks back when it announced the Liberty Alliance Project, a gathering of high-tech companies with the aim of creating an open alternative to Microsoft’s .Net framework. Microsoft was invited to join the new coalition, but at the time of the announcement said it wasn’t sure what decision it would make. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had a few things to say about Liberty this week, telling reporters, “I think the Sun thing has absolutely no probability of mattering to the world.” Sounds like the answer is no.
Sun also plans to cut pricing on its iPlanet Web Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 to $940 per computer/processor from $1,495 for any customer changing from a competing platform. The company also plans to debut software that allow pages written for Microsoft’s server software format on Sun’s platform without modification. The company is hoping the move will attract users dissatisfied with the security and licensing issues of Microsoft enterprise solutions.
EBIZ names new CEO
An abrupt changing of the guard at EBIZ Enterprises Inc. has led to Bruce Parsons taking on the duties of CEO at that company. Parsons joined EBIZ as president in January, when the Linux commerce provider and systems builder acquired his former company, Jones Business Systems. On Friday, former CEO Dave Shaw resigned from the EBIZ CEO post, but remains a company employee and retains a seat on its board of directors.
Shaw’s proven formula of pumping up companies and selling them at a tidy profit didn’t work this time. The company never saw promised financing and credit commitments become reality, trades over the counter for fractions of cents, and in early September finally sought protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 filing. Perhaps with Parsons at the helm, EBIZ can take a better look at its situation and maybe, eventually, even make it out of the pink sheet gutter.
Milking the wireless spectrum
Some udderly ridiculous non-Open Source news to end the week: Citing a Finnish newspaper, CSFB’s technology group told investors that a group of dairy farms have started using text-messaging robots to milk cows. The robots alert farmers via text alert if there’s a problem with the milking machines.
“As current CSFB estimates only take into account the human population, the inclusion of the cow, and perhaps even more importantly the reindeer population, significantly increases the addressable market in Scandinavia,” the team wrote in its note to investors.
Here’s how Open Source and related technology stocks ended the week:
| Company Name | Symbol | 10/12 Close | 10/05 Close |
| Apple | AAPL | 18.01 | 16.14 |
| Borland Software Int’l | BORL | 10.40 | 9.65 |
| Caldera International | CALD | 0.30 | 0.25 |
| EBIZ Enterprises | EBIZ.OB | 0.018 | 0.02 |
| Hewlett Packard | HWP | 18.35 | 16.45 |
| IBM | IBM | 100.84 | 98.02 |
| MandrakeSoft | 4477.PA | e3.10 | e4.25 |
| Red Hat | RHAT | 3.94 | 3.55 |
| Sun Microsystems | SUNW | 10.04 | 9.87 |
| TiVo | TIVO | 3.80 | 3.69 |
| VA Linux Systems | LNUX | 1.11 | 1.13 |
| Wind River Systems | WIND | 14.56 | 12.25 |
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Author: JT Smith
Author: JT Smith
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