Bonum Certa Men Certa

W3C Poisoned by Promoters of Software Patents Who Attack GNU/Linux


Jeff Jaffe at the event announcing the Microsoft/Novell deal (2006)



Summary: Novell's CTO, who encourages maximisation of software patents, becomes another threat to the Web as he takes leadership in the World Wide Web Consortium

"SMELLS fishy," told me Jan Wildeboer regarding the fact that "MSFT enters W3C WGs, Jeff Jaffe becomes the CEO." Yes, the W3C has been letting in some bad staff recently, including some of the latest arrivals. First there's a person from the software patents supporter known as IBM which has a seat, along with one from Microsoft and Apple, who are anti-GNU/Linux bullies that attack the platform with software patents (yes, Apple too [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]). Some of these people are not compatible with the W3C. One of the reasons that the World Wide Web was so successful was the deliberate absence (by exclusion) of software patents, which made the platform free.



On top of all this, based on many news reports [1, 2, 3, 4], the chief executive will be Novell's departing CTO, Jeff Jaffe, who also has roots in IBM (which doesn't help much). He was chosen despite his love for software patents [1, 2, 3] and patent traps like Mono.

The World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees development of Hypertext Markup Language and several other standards relating to the Web, has a new leader who wants to help streamline some of the group's standardization efforts and beef up its ties with outside programmers.

Jeff Jaffe, Novell's chief technology officer until January and a former executive at IBM and Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, was named W3C's new chief executive officer on Sunday. In the post, he'll work with group director and Web founder Tim Berners-Lee.


Berners-Lee very much dislikes software patents, so why does he surround himself with these people? They are all in favour of software patents (or their employers are). Apple has already 'planted' some software patents in the Web and also strongly opposed Ogg. Added below is a relevant conversion from one hour ago.




Boycott Novell logo

IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: March 8th, 2010

lylespeaking of patentsMar 08 15:17
lylewhat happens to novell's patents if they get bought by elliot?Mar 08 15:17
DaemonFCand the only reason those jobs came is because the companies don't have to pay any taxes to reside hereMar 08 15:18
lyleand elliot sells bits and piecesMar 08 15:18
oiaohmHighest bidder lyleMar 08 15:18
lylecould spell trouble for linuxMar 08 15:18
oiaohmNot really.Mar 08 15:18
oiaohmAnyone trying to use them could find them in a world of trouble.Mar 08 15:18
lylenot if patent trolls get themMar 08 15:19
oiaohmSince Novell signed a legally binding agreement covering all there patents.Mar 08 15:19
DaemonFCI wonder if there are any HUD dollar homes hereMar 08 15:19
lyleoiaohm: where?Mar 08 15:19
DaemonFCthe banks have foreclosed on everyone, so maybeMar 08 15:19
oiaohmSo they cannot be used against open source ever.Mar 08 15:19
lyleno, you are thinking of the patents they gave to OINMar 08 15:19
lylebut they didn't give all of theirs to OINMar 08 15:19
oiaohmPart of the OIN agreementMar 08 15:19
oiaohmTo have a seat on there.Mar 08 15:20
oiaohmIt not just give patents lyleMar 08 15:20
lyleok, but they won't be Novell's patents once they are sold to a patent trollMar 08 15:20
oiaohmNow those patents being used against Microsoft and other closed source companies would not be in breach.Mar 08 15:20
lyleand the patent troll will not have agreedMar 08 15:20
lylethat agreement only states that *Novell* won't sueMar 08 15:21
oiaohmEven when sold the take out of the patent agreements still stand unless those agreements expires.Mar 08 15:21
oiaohmThe oin agreement does not have an expirely.Mar 08 15:21
oiaohmThe Microsoft one does.Mar 08 15:21

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopfarms Slopping Away at "Linux" and Spreading Microsoft Misinformation
Slopfarms don't comprehend this as they lack actual comprehension, they're just parrots
GitHub the Company Has, in Effect, Just Died (Time to Look for Alternatives)
To Microsoft, what's left of GitHub after dismantling/folding it is some "training set" (people's code, without permission to "train" i.e. misuse under the guise of "GenAI" plagiarism)
Linux Foundation Says "Housekeeping", "Hung", "Normal", "Native Feature/Support" and "Girl/Girls" Are Offensive Words
Bombing people is OK, just use the right "terms"
It Looks More Like Microsoft GitHub Layoffs
GitHub is just losing loads of money
 
GitHub Will End Up like XBox and Skype
It is not likely that the XBox franchise will survive the next 5 years
Stones Thrown in Glass Houses
Projecting? You bet!
As Europe Gets Increasingly Serious About Software Freedom and Digital Sovereignty It Needs to Enforce a Ban on Software Patents ASAP
many councils in Europe move to Free software and US policy/companies cannot be trusted
Windows 12 in Bahrain (Microsoft "Market Share" Down to 12%, an All-Time Low)
They really ought to get away from Windows even faster
The Web Needs 'Pest Control' When It Comes to LLM Slopfarms
The goal is to discourage more sites becoming slopfarms
Microsoft Can Now Stop Reporting the GitHub Layoffs (Even When They Happen)
GitHub's original staff will see the true cost of becoming "b0rged" - something that Microsoft earned a bad reputation for
How to Get Very Bad or Even Malicious Code Into Linux? Write it in a Language That Linus Torvalds and Most Other Linux Developers Don't Understand.
One point nobody brings up is, what if code gets committed while evading audits and scrutiny?
Links 12/08/2025: Wikipedia Fails at UK High Court, Perlmutter Still Fights to Squash the Slop Lobby
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Field Recording and Digital Legacy
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: WinRAR Zero-Day, SonicWall Does More Harm Than Good
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: More Sabotage of Underwater Cable Ahead of Russian Alaska Summit
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Will Not Miss Microsoft GitHub, It Was Only Good at Harvesting a Lot of Code for Plagiarism-as-a-Service
investors are apparently willing to lose money for buzzwords
Links 12/08/2025: Science, Hardware, and Ukraine Excluded From Negotiations About Its Future
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Meditation, OpenStreetMap, Smolweb, and More
Links for the day
Google News is Dying: Most of Its Top Stories Now Are LLM Slop With Slop Images (i.e. 100% Fake 'Content')
Google News has been drowning in this sort of stuff for quite some time
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 11, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 11, 2025
Our Predictions Were Right: GitHub Dying as Losses Pile Up (as a Company It Cannot Continue to Exist, It's Not 'Free Hosting')
GitHub always lost money
Links 11/08/2025: Meritless Twitter Suspensions and Disney Scraps Deepfake Dwayne Johnson
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/08/2025: Upgrading Debian Bookworm and Better Quality PDFs From Gemini Pages
Links for the day
Currys PCWorld Lied a Decade Ago, 10 Years Later It Still Effectively Voids Your Warranty for Installing GNU/Linux Despite It Being Increasingly Mainstream
Microsoft gatekeepers
Team GNOME Has Libeled Me for Nearly 20 Years
we are not dealing with sane people
Experience With Airlines in 'Web Sites' and in 'Apps'
In a lot of ways, Stallman Was Right about what JavaScript would turn out to be
Open Does Not Mean Free
wiser to ask if some program is freedom-respecting
The Register MS Takes Money From Companies Banned by the Biden and Trump Administrations (National Security Risk)
today's sponsor
Sabotaging GNU/Linux PCs (and Users) is Not a 'Joke'
maybe cruelty is the very objective
How We Process Screenshots of Slop to Suitably Tag Them as Slop
everything is a single command
Links 11/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Climate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 10, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 10, 2025
Gemini Links 11/08/2025: Tea Caffeine Hot and Super ZZ Zero
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Brian Fagioli, and Other Serial Sloppers
Maybe Microsoft wants to dub this "Web5"
Gemini Links 10/08/2025: Residents Management Company, Automation, and Politics
Links for the day
Links 10/08/2025: AOL Ending Dial-up
Links for the day
Seductive Mirage or Allure of Complex, Proprietary Coffee Machines (or Similar White Elephants)
Software is a lot like those things
Links 10/08/2025: Webrings, “AI Sunglasses” and “AI Eyeglasses”, US Administration Intensifies Attacks on Science and Research
Links for the day
Sometimes Newer is Worse
We generally need to reject this dumb notion that "old" means bad
The Code Used to Make Techrights Fits on a Seventh of a Floppy Disk (or 100KB When Compressed)
For the sake of comparison I've just downloaded the latest version of WordPress. The ZIP file is 27.2MB in size, or ~27,200KB.
What They Tell Young Programmers
Coding in 2025
Simpler is Better When Simple is Enough
Over-complicating things to "sell" new versions is so 1990s
Links 10/08/2025: From Social Control Media to Prison, New Examples of Windows TCO
Links for the day
Sloppy Reporting About Slop, or How The Register MS Lowers Its Standards
Maybe the management isn't even aware of this
IBM's Strategy: Cull 'Expensive' Workers, Replace Them With Cheaper Ones
So far we saw not even one rebuttal or challenge to the claim of Red Hat layoffs scheduled for tomorrow
If You Attack Somebody Too Much You Legitimise and Strengthen That Somebody
at the end those attacks add up to a "martyr" status
The Man Who Helped Microsoft Kill Linux is Trying to Delay Our Lawsuits Against Him
By conservative estimates, and based on court documents submitted by them, they're prepared to spend over a million dollars on lawyers, fighting against me and my wife
Gemini Links 10/08/2025: Gen Con 2025 and Framework Laptop
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 09, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 09, 2025