There are two problems with software patent. First, they violate First Amendment free speech rights. Second, Free Software programmers have no money to buy them. I think that both of these can be dealt with and that the Free Software Community should embrace software patents.

The issue of violating the first amendment rights is a big issue. Fortunately, with patents covering GPL code would only stop non-free software from being published. Many people in the free software community view non-free software as unethical, and with software patents, it could also be illegal. A second justification is that it's better to oppress your competition than be the victim. The doctrine of preemption applies here. A third justification is that software patents are not morally wrong, it's not like you're doing anything illegal.

The problem of not having money is just a matter of perspective. If you buy a software patent, then you can sue people with it down the line and recoup your investment. There are people who would be willing to buy your patents.

If I remember correctly, it costs around $10K to buy a patent. I would be willing to sell a patent to someone else for $15K. That person could then wait for 5-7 years and then start licensing the patent for non-free software or suing people who refuse to license.

In fact, here is my plan. I'm going to open my software up so that anyone can patent any aspect of it if they pay me $5K. They would have to take care of all the patent paper work and they wouldn't be able to sue anyone over GPL licensed software but otherwise, they'd be free to sue anyone they wanted.

In the coming years, Microsoft will use patents to try slow Free Software development. They will succeed. Fortunately, the Free Software community
can fight Microsofts assault by selling patent rights to lawyers.

I've been working on a p2p system on and off for the last couple years.

I think this is the first time I ever mentioned it online and that was over 2 years ago. At the time I was trying to figure out how to have private networks... It turns out the answer is not too difficult.

1) Each network has a password.
2) Take the password and your IP address and hash them.
3) Send the hash to the other people in the network.
4) The other people know the password and they know your IP address. They hash them and compare it with the hash that you sent. If it matches then you are accepted in the network.

Of course, that doesn't deal with the case where your ISP is listenning to your traffic. Your ISP can just test all the words in the dictionary until they get one that leads to the hash you sent. But I can accept that for now, I guess.

Any way... I had hoped to get a text based demo version ready and submit a paper for CodeCon, but I won't be able to make it in time.

That's too bad...