Tim O'Reilly (US): “We Need Some Serious Reform on Software Patents.”

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2011-06-03 18:33:22 UTC
Modified: 2011-06-03 18:33:22 UTC

Photo by Robert Scoble, former Microsoft AstroTurfer ("Evangelist")

Summary: Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly fame (the publisher) joins the tongue lashing against software patents; Techrights commends him.

Tim O'Reilly has had a mixed bag when it comes to techrights, in which he commented before. We appreciate the work he did bringing Open Source to the public's awareness as the books his company publishes definitely help adoption of Free/Open Source software (we have an interview about that coming). The main Issue that we have had with O'Reilly is that he is inclusive to the point where even hostile intrusions (notably by Microsoft) get tolerated and funding from Microsoft is allowed to have impact [1, 2, 3, 4]. Another issue with the company and not the person is its recent deal with Microsoft and also some neglect of "Openness" at the code level, not to mention standards. APIs are not really "openness", they are an invitation to become dependent on someone else.

At any rate, we wish not to berate O'Reilly. Rather, we strive to highlight areas where there is room for debate and hopefully better understanding. We agree with Tim on many of the points he makes, including his important denunciation of software patents in this tweet where he says "I'm with @fredwilson: Enough is enough http://bit.ly/kfXXMV We need some serious reform on software patents." Some people who work for O'Reilly, notably Andy, are actually pro-software patents. Maybe that will change.

Yes, software patents are now being fought against also by Tim (we don't say O'Reilly as that would cause confusion w.r.t. the company/person), who is very influential in the United States. Fred Wilson himself is very pleased with the attention he got for speaking out against software patents the other day:

Clearly this is a hot topic. It's got me hot and it's got a few others hot too. That's a good thing. It's clear that we need to do more to fix the software patents mess and the reaction to yesterday's post is a strong signal to me on that front.

We can second that as Techrights grew very fast since it started covering software patents in 2006. Now more than ever we see software patents doing a lot of harm everywhere in the news, so proprietary software developers -- not just Free software developers -- speak out against these. Let's keep up the fight. The SCOTUS cannot betray the people for too long.

Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean"): Unlike systemd
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople: Something isn't right at The Register
The Week to Come: Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online: The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?: there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents: We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity): the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press: Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes: Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News: Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man": Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software: Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes: But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft): It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40): We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much: Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble: There is not much that can be done at this point
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025: IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media: Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains: throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows: Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games: Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX): Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM: Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices: That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore: The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief): The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor: Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register: I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?: Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?: days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025: IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude: I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic): Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace: Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community: Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse: When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster: It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK: Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital: Links for the day
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis": Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics: They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome: The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them: Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake): Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small: Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology: Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone: The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master: Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking): Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably: Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time): Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM: In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025: IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce: Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux: Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs: When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More: Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback: Links for the day

Tim O'Reilly (US): “We Need Some Serious Reform on Software Patents.”

Recent Techrights' Posts