Ken Arromdee wrote: > On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Josh Triplett wrote: > >>>Then any Windows program which uses undocumented Windows system calls (of >>>which there are plenty) is a derivative work of Windows and can't be >>>distributed without Microsoft's permission, at least until someone discovers >>>the system calls and implements them in Wine? >> >>Quite arguably yes. However, Microsoft is intelligent enough to know >>that going after people who develop applications for your platform is a >>bad idea. I suspect they would have grounds to do so if they wanted to. > > The FSF said basically the same thing when I asked them, and it doesn't > seem right. While it's not in Microsoft's interest to go after application > developers in general, it *is* in Microsoft's interest to go after it when > the application is Word Perfect, Netscape, or another competitor. It's > telling that Microsoft hasn't tried such a thing. That would be a blatant abuse of monopoly power; the ensuing antitrust court battle would probably result in (at a minimum) a compulsory license. (Then again, they've been through that process once with barely any result, so maybe not.) - Josh Triplett
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