Re: sarge and software patents
Marty wrote:
ress the root problem.
IMNSHO there will always be some countries that outlaw some kinds of
free software, but it's unlikely that all countries will outlaw any
kinds of free software.
Marty, i'm speaking about the European Union. This ain't 2 or 3
countries. This is the whole west europe and this gather 25 countries.
This law will be a directive and therefore apply to the whole 25
countries, whatever the y vote yes or no.
Therefore the obvious answer I think, is to
set up servers in locations that are free of such laws. And even in
the unlikely event that all countries outlaw some kinds of software
(e.g. via treaties) there have been proposals for dealing with that
as well. I have read articles about locating certain types of
services on the high seas although I don't know if any of those exist
now.
That could be a good idea if you only practise in your room. I don't
think the police gonna hit your door and swat run into you house to get
you computer.
But many opensource software will leave the enterprise field.
My skills onto opensource POSIX systems is what i sell to companies and
what allow me to have a decent life.
If tomorrow my job is to migrate Linux plateforms onto windows, then
i'll feel like shit and will soon be unemployed. And my CV will be so
great : "specialized in illegal system". Nice.
People in the USA have lived with patent for a really long time. I guess
most of the debian users of this list has always lived under the patent
regn.
But, in Europe, we had the luck to avoid this so far.
You can imagin how many european developers and users may feel by now.
But it's not over. There is still some luck to avoid this. The vote
hasn't be done yet.
Like people of this list, Linux users are perfectionnists. We like to
use the best software. And it's even best when opensource and when you
make a living out of it.
That's what i like in IT : it's a passion and you make a living out of it.
But my whole employment sector could fall down.
Sorry, i just feel sick.
G
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