Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Mind if I borrow a cup of flour? I'm baking a pie.

Treeforters, Please comment to this with the url of the announcement from November 2004 right before the the arrival in the mail of 6,826,744

If you will remember,
Steve Ballmer CEO Microsoft's pledge MSFT would shield any of their customers from lawsuits as a result of using MSFT products accused or found guilty of patent infringements by MSFT against other property holders yada yada yada bada bing bada bomb...

I no longer have the energy or stomach to poke back through the anchovies because it makes me sick to look at the blatant obvious and transparent efforts Microsoft has used to tip toe through our tulips for years.

NOW with Silverfish, it gives me the creeps. Now that they splash the 6,826,744 and 7,076,521 concepts around like they've owned them all along, it only makes me have to repent after cussing them up and down. And sideways. In and out. Hmmm. Lunch. In and out sounds good.

Anyway I appreciate your attentiveness, as it were, very much. We have a battle ahead of us against legions of cramberries that will be proclaiming how wrong all our assertions are. We have in our favor the concept of property ownership and inventor recognition that makes Microsoft and IBM and all the other big ones very much money. Open source is an even better place for VCSY but we should be allowed the propriety of announcing to the world what we own and demonstrating what we can do.

We have the protection of the US courts and the courts of companies throughout the world who recognize the value of local Country Gateways as demonstrated by the United Nations developmentgateway.org efforts. They will demonstrate by trade with those who provided them such wonderful software capable of providing such an amazing site as the dg site. This project begun in 2001 with the help of Ars Digita created a socialized conglomerate of many nations and their disparate content and format.

I guess we'll see integrated functionality next as IBM works the Indian Government's 5000 websites into one interconnected, interoperational megasite with many formats, much content and a wonderful asset to all of the poorest nations on earth.

I'm sure I can speak for a large number of VCSY longs in saying, from me to you all, 'You're welcome.'

We may yet have to roll out all we know to a jury after all, but, given the indications laid out in the entire timeline (not just the small specialized segment on part 2) there's going to be more money in a settlement or judgment and some more information to be had... and information in the hands of a lawyer is like having a mohel with a death wish. One of those 'Not a nuglet left.' kind of guys.

We also have the benefit of a journalistic community that has grown weary and suspicious of Microsoft's boning and boohooing and artificial dialogue. Journalists work with words every day. Techies work with nothing but truth in logic. When it comes to talking they don't know how to not. Those words will be sifted and sorted by people who understand words and worders.

Words are one thing. Actions are an even better indication... and you can't hide something as large as Microsoft intent. The way MSFT are mincing and peppering words amongst the banquet at Mix 07 tells me the journalists will leave that hall very hungry for substance behind the cardboard crust.

Anywho. Like the good book says 'Patience is a virtue and it helps in hunting but the best use of patience is to sit in a tree and wait for the prey to walk to the waterhole. And if you need a drink all you have to do is climb up and down the tree. That's easy enough.

So, thanks in advance to any of you VCSY longs have that url, you can reach me by mail backchannel if you like or send something to Morrie or mm-buster and it will find its way to me. Or. You could send it to morrie so he can plug it into the accumulating index on part 3 and part 2.

Nice site here. Very useful information. The kick out from ProgrammersHeaven actually came at exactly the right time for us to be putting all this out to the greater technical audience at large. They know how to read a spec and what it takes to put something like that together. The real puckerpang is going to come when they recognize their description in the patent language. So that's why I want that URL. I posted it somewhere on the three legged stool but I hate going back through my stuff because I see typos and I am compelled to correct them.

So there will be a huge population of proprietary cobblers who have put together tools like VCSY's and I would say Microsoft's reaction to all this is going to set the tone for fear or reassurance in the eyes of all their clients and customers... all of who are using illegally manufactured goods in the eyes of VCSY property lawyers and in the eyes of anyone who can read a patent objectively.

That audience is going to be from MSFT and AAPL but also from a host of open-source outfits as well, so I'm baking a few pies to inform them and help them deal with the tummy grumbles or the downright $#!@s they get from eating the Party Mix 07. I wonder if our lawyers have people in that assembly writing down names of visitors to the MSFT booth? Tacky? HA Give me a 7 year break. Tacky my cracker behind.

I would be worried if we had some salamander schlepping the bubkes around New York or Washington... either one... but Marshall Texas? Good God, Miss Kitty, is they gonna shoot for the gizzard or air they gonna wing 'em and make 'em dance? Nicko and the rest of them Chicargo boys probably are real downhome arount there... about a two day's ride outta Frog Level if I recollects right. You just gonna stand here all weepy eyed? Or air ye gonna pull out yer pistollety and give 'em a poke in their ticket?

7 comments:

Benjamin said...

I found this, kind of funny actually.

Microsoft Broadens IP Indemnity

Microsoft has broadened its IP indemnification to cover most of its customers, not just the big ones. The official announcement is here. Groklaw has posted a deconstruction of the text of the indemnification. Much of the textual analysis on Groklaw is IMHO inaccurate. Looks to me like Microsoft is giving a real indemnity.

However, is it truly a valuable thing that Microsoft is providing a full indemnity? First of all, few software companies, in my experience, can avoid giving a full IP indemnity to customers, so maybe the response is "welcome to the club, Microsoft."

Second, and more importantly, consider the answers to the following questions. Has Microsoft ever been sued for patent infringement related to technology in one of its products? (Hint: Yes, a number of times.) At the time of such patent infringement claim, did Microsoft have a contract that fully indemnified the users? (Hint: No) Has anyone sued a Microsoft end user for patent infringement over a technology that Microsoft put in its products? (Hint: I don't think so)

This points out a fact of software business life: a commercial software developer normally needs to fix a patent infringement claim for one of its products for business reasons regardless whether an indemnity if given to customers or not. Regardless whether an indemnity is provided, Microsoft has to fix its patent problems.

The giving of the indemnity is therefore, in my opinion, not giving much if anything away by Microsoft. A marketing ploy? Possibly.

However, the fact that there is a company that views it in its best interest to defend patent infringement claims is potentially a real distinguishing feature between MS Windows and Linux.

My two cents. Your comments welcome.

Benjamin said...

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/nov04/11-10IPProtectionPR.mspx

Benjamin said...

It was like they knew after Vertical got the patent that the shat would eventualy hit the fan and the party would be up for them with this PR they put out on IP indemnity.

Anonymous said...

I posted this down the pike aways but I'm going to throw it in again here.---This is yesterday?


This is Ozzie

"...We have a broad palette of things at each layer that are coming down the pike. The one thing that you can count on--absolutely, unquestionably--is that anything that we do from a services infrastructure platform perspective is aligned with the .Net story..."


http://news.com.com/Ozzies+quiet+revolution+at+Microsoft+-+page+3/2008-1012_3-6180428-3.html?tag=st.num

Anonymous said...

Lets see... Mr.Davison and Mr Macauley...Yup that went pretty well...nice little package.


Now look at the inventors in what RB mght call a "frantic panic"?

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='20030028685'.PGNR.&OS=DN/20030028685&RS=DN/20030028685

Anonymous said...

Yup thats pretty much what it would do---only its already been done.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-984052.html

Anonymous said...

Yikes---should have began with Mr. Vijay---OK so I'm talking about 3


That other beast looks like the inventors being the people at... oh lets say spring break daytona 2002 or those not on stage at Woodstock. or...anyway-- a bunch a impotent inventor types.