More time is needed for an in-depth assessment

Summary: We take a quick look at the first 10 days of Biden's presidency as they pertain to issues like programming, antitrust, and software freedom

IT HAS now been 10 days (slightly more) of Joe Biden in the highest office, where prior to that he had served as Vice President.

We recently named a bunch of things he can do to prove commitment to Free software ideals. Well, one Free software proponent has been put in a position of power, albeit this person has roots or 'pedigree' at Facebook, which likely means antitrust action is not so likely (also recall donors of his campaign).

"So far, based on the news reports from left-leaning sites (not corporate/mainstream media), Biden surprised many progressives for the better with rather bold policies and executive orders."The two trolls or troll proponents in charge of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are out. They left just before inauguration day. That's a good sign. They probably foresaw their firing. Foretold perhaps...

So far, based on the news reports from left-leaning sites (not corporate/mainstream media), Biden surprised many progressives for the better with rather bold policies and executive orders. Not to be mocked offhand. Wall Street and Monsanto (Bayer) are among the winners so far.

We're watching closely for any policies which directly pertain to software, for example what Biden might do to double down on 35 U.S.C. § 101/Alice (SCOTUS) and reintroduce the old capacities of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) with its inter partes reviews (IPRs). Andrei Iancu did a lot of damage. PTAB is almost incapacitated. Typical Trumpism.

All in all, despite my deepest of scepticism and distrust, Biden hasn't done anything terribly bad or outright awful. Not in the software domain. But 10 days into one's term might not say much; there are about 1,500 days in total, if not 3,000. ⬆