Comment How Much Should I Pay? (Score 1) 291
I'll happily pay 400% of all money I have spent or made for the Linux code I use. Where do I send my check for $0?
Maybe I should pay for the money I have made supporing Linux and it's products... Ok that would come up to a lot of money... But wait do I also have to pay for supporting Windows which is 100% M$?
Maybe I need to pay for the money that Linux has cost M$? How much is that? Apple, IBM, HP, and SUN all have OS's that have a lot more in common with Linux then Windows does so it's not the majority of the code. So I guess we need to find out what percentage of the code is used in M$ 'injenuity'. 235 is a big number but what does it reperesent.
according to the CNN article:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_arc hive/2007/05/28/100033867/index.htm
Linux kernel - 42
The Linux graphical user interfaces - 65
Open Office suite of programs - 45
E-mail programs - 15
other assorted FOSS programs - 68
Ok time to re-educate M$.
While Linux is FOSS, FOSS is not Linux so the 68 outlandisly vague patents are not in Linux (maybe on a majority of distro disk but AOL comes on the Window Disk). My guess is that we are looking at maybe 4 or 5 per offencing program and in general are little freebes or add-on's for windows so maybe $0.05 per which would come to a whopping $3.40.
E-Mail programs, unless they are talking about the internal mail system Linux uses to send messages I think they are going after programs that have windows binaries out there( as many of the FOSS may fall in that catagory too). If you put those 15 in you may as well charge all windows users who don't use Outlook... (hmm) But again I think we are looking at 4 or 5 per program but MS doesn't charge for Outlook express so equivalent echange would come to $0.00. But some may be exclusice to Outlook and that is a part of MS Office so maybe $0.05 per patent.
Open Office is a nice free office package suite so it does get put on most distro disks especialy since it can open and save MS Office documents, Good chance that these patents will be the strongest ones for a suite if M$ ever decided to sue but they are also great examples of why we need some patent reform. BUT just as MS Office is not Windows (though I know a TON of users who don't know the diffrance between Word and Windows) Open Office is not Linux. However if we had to pay this could get a bit pricy. Office has a retail of around $600. So 45 Patents over the 6 or so parts of Open Office and each has to have at least 100 patantable parts so about $1 per Patent.
Ok the GUI can aguably be considered Linux, in the way that people see Explorer as Windows. However unlike Windows, X and the managers that run on it (like KDE and GNome) are in no way required to use the system. I have heard rumors that most of the 65 are from KDE. This I could see beacuse KDE has a lot of windows like controls but again since it's not really part of the OS and rarely run (if even installed) on servers it can be argued that its little more than a free add-on. However most of the new things that M$ puts in windows are not much more than flash and colors so I can see at least half the cost of windows being from this. So IF you run all the options that M$ thinks that they have valid Patent on and Windows market value of about $600 and the other 1000+ 'patanable' fetures are not owned by M$ then we could be looking at as much at $20.
Now we get to Linux. 42 Patent violations in the Kernel. These are the only ones that I think the Linux communuity is really worried about. All the rest can be easily replaced or switched out on just about any currently running Linux system with little to no impact. I am most interested in seeing what these are. In general the Linux kernel sets the core for a POSIX system which HP and IBM UNIX and even Apples OS X also do. Maybe the new way the Linux Kernel handles drivers is patented by M$? Maybe M$ is also confused about what a Kernel is and means the boot loader? Whatever the Patent violation is I'm guessing it's a small technicality or even one of those patents that managed to get by the review process (like patitioning a HD and powering off the computer automaticly) At most I would say these are worth a total of $0.01 at most.
So in the off chance that M$ sue's and wins and the GPL is found unconstitutional (only way anyone is paying for Linux) I will have to pay M$ $.42 to install Linux. $20 to have it have some windows like flash, $45 for a good Office suite, and $5.00 for some well writen and solid applications.
Just goes to show you that Linux people think don't think the M$ Windows and Office Suite (~$1200) only has about $70.42 of real value.
Maybe I should pay for the money I have made supporing Linux and it's products... Ok that would come up to a lot of money... But wait do I also have to pay for supporting Windows which is 100% M$?
Maybe I need to pay for the money that Linux has cost M$? How much is that? Apple, IBM, HP, and SUN all have OS's that have a lot more in common with Linux then Windows does so it's not the majority of the code. So I guess we need to find out what percentage of the code is used in M$ 'injenuity'. 235 is a big number but what does it reperesent.
according to the CNN article:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_ar
Linux kernel - 42
The Linux graphical user interfaces - 65
Open Office suite of programs - 45
E-mail programs - 15
other assorted FOSS programs - 68
Ok time to re-educate M$.
While Linux is FOSS, FOSS is not Linux so the 68 outlandisly vague patents are not in Linux (maybe on a majority of distro disk but AOL comes on the Window Disk). My guess is that we are looking at maybe 4 or 5 per offencing program and in general are little freebes or add-on's for windows so maybe $0.05 per which would come to a whopping $3.40.
E-Mail programs, unless they are talking about the internal mail system Linux uses to send messages I think they are going after programs that have windows binaries out there( as many of the FOSS may fall in that catagory too). If you put those 15 in you may as well charge all windows users who don't use Outlook... (hmm) But again I think we are looking at 4 or 5 per program but MS doesn't charge for Outlook express so equivalent echange would come to $0.00. But some may be exclusice to Outlook and that is a part of MS Office so maybe $0.05 per patent.
Open Office is a nice free office package suite so it does get put on most distro disks especialy since it can open and save MS Office documents, Good chance that these patents will be the strongest ones for a suite if M$ ever decided to sue but they are also great examples of why we need some patent reform. BUT just as MS Office is not Windows (though I know a TON of users who don't know the diffrance between Word and Windows) Open Office is not Linux. However if we had to pay this could get a bit pricy. Office has a retail of around $600. So 45 Patents over the 6 or so parts of Open Office and each has to have at least 100 patantable parts so about $1 per Patent.
Ok the GUI can aguably be considered Linux, in the way that people see Explorer as Windows. However unlike Windows, X and the managers that run on it (like KDE and GNome) are in no way required to use the system. I have heard rumors that most of the 65 are from KDE. This I could see beacuse KDE has a lot of windows like controls but again since it's not really part of the OS and rarely run (if even installed) on servers it can be argued that its little more than a free add-on. However most of the new things that M$ puts in windows are not much more than flash and colors so I can see at least half the cost of windows being from this. So IF you run all the options that M$ thinks that they have valid Patent on and Windows market value of about $600 and the other 1000+ 'patanable' fetures are not owned by M$ then we could be looking at as much at $20.
Now we get to Linux. 42 Patent violations in the Kernel. These are the only ones that I think the Linux communuity is really worried about. All the rest can be easily replaced or switched out on just about any currently running Linux system with little to no impact. I am most interested in seeing what these are. In general the Linux kernel sets the core for a POSIX system which HP and IBM UNIX and even Apples OS X also do. Maybe the new way the Linux Kernel handles drivers is patented by M$? Maybe M$ is also confused about what a Kernel is and means the boot loader? Whatever the Patent violation is I'm guessing it's a small technicality or even one of those patents that managed to get by the review process (like patitioning a HD and powering off the computer automaticly) At most I would say these are worth a total of $0.01 at most.
So in the off chance that M$ sue's and wins and the GPL is found unconstitutional (only way anyone is paying for Linux) I will have to pay M$ $.42 to install Linux. $20 to have it have some windows like flash, $45 for a good Office suite, and $5.00 for some well writen and solid applications.
Just goes to show you that Linux people think don't think the M$ Windows and Office Suite (~$1200) only has about $70.42 of real value.
