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.

Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Low of ~60% in Switzerland, GNU/Linux Among Top Gainers: What will it take for mainstream media (not just geeks' site) to cover it?
Culture of Harassment Inside Microsoft, Says Former Director at Microsoft: listen to Microsoft insiders
Drone Strikes on Amazon (GAFAM) Datacentres Highlight Azure's Miniscule Share: Azure is failing
SLAPP Censorship - Part 35 Out of 200: How to Make ~10,000 Pound Sterling (13,220.50 United States Dollars) by Copy-Pasting and Editing 10 Pages: Today it's Easter Sunday, so we'll keep this part relatively short
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Artemis II Mission Tracker, Meditation on Copyright, Alhena 5.5.5, "Gemini as the Final Frontier of Human Cognition": Links for the day
Mainstream Media on "Practical Survivalism": Suffice to say, panic buying begets more panic and price surges
Cloud Computing as a Cloud of Smoke (Your Hosting Provider is a "Legitimate" Military Target): When a French datacentre went up in flames people joked that the "cloud" meant a cloud of smoke
Andreas Tille Congratulates Sruthi Chandran Before the Election for Debian Project Leader (DPL) is Even Over: Andreas Tille, the current Debian Project Leader (DPL) who has been in this role for nearly 24 months
When You Try to Change the World for the Better and Somehow They Find a Way to Say You Are the Villain: Don't be a fool. Don't fall for inversions of narratives.
Slop Was a Flop and Energy Crisis Will be Slop's Final Blow: Today we see no slopfarms in Google News
Links 05/04/2026: "Taiwanese Airlines to Hike Fuel Surcharges 157%" and Openly Racist Voter Suppression Starts in the US: Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Playing with Hyprland and Migrating Antenna Filters: Links for the day
Links 05/04/2026: "Confidential Computing" as Proprietary Bundle of False Promises and "The Web Is an Antitrust Wedge": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 04, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, April 04, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 34 Out of 200: The Necessity of Transparency, Illuminating Garrett's and Graveley's 'Tag-Team' Act, Misusing the British Docket (From Far Away in America) in Efforts to Hide Bad Behaviour: Transparency is paramount
Red Tape at Red Hat (IBM): Now the guiding principles are the whims and moods of people who peddle buzzwords to manipulate IBM's share prices
The So-called 'AI' (Slop) Companies Will Have the Plug Pulled: It can vastly accelerate this bubble's implosion
Dr. Andy Farnell on a "Technology Plan B": based around Free software
Windows Lows Across the Mediterranean: Judging by this month's data from statCounter
The Future of the Net is 'in Space': Gemini Protocol is growing and GemText remains the same, so it's made to endure
Linux Foundation Profits From Scams, Fraud, and Grifting: Don't be misled by the name "Linux Foundation"
Too Hard for IBM to Keep Everybody Silent About How the Company Has Gone South: IBM is busy trying to keep disgruntled or ex workers silent using NDAs
Microsoft Transmits Malware and Back Doors to GNU/Linux Servers, Media Points the Finger at Everyone But Microsoft's Servers: Is Microsoft too poor to vet and check what it hosts and transmits?
Gemini Links 04/04/2026: "Fuzz Guy", "Reusing Old Computers with Arch Linux and DWM", and Bubble v10.0 Released: Links for the day
Links 04/04/2026: eBay Scam, "Music Publishers’ X Copyright Lawsuit Officially on Pause": Links for the day
Links 04/04/2026: Social Control Media Verdict and Bans, Whistleblower (Axel Rietschin) Explains How "Microsoft Vaporized a Trillion Dollars": Links for the day
Reaching the End/Event Horizon of LLM Slop: Are we moving towards a post-LLMs world?
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 03, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, April 03, 2026
Gemini Links 04/04/2026: STXGE and Computer Relationships: Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 33 Out of 200: Garrett Sued by My Wife and I, Then His Microsoft Acquaintance Files Another Lawsuit and Our Webhost Receives Legal Threats Too: Today we also show how our solicitor Mark Lewis responded to it
Good Friday, Leaving IBM for Good: Even on holidays
Links 03/04/2026: Rejection of More Software Patents and Social Control Media in Several Continents: Links for the day
Malware in Proprietary Software - Latest Additions by Rob Musial: Original published yesterday in gnu.org
Visual Evidence/Documentation of IBM Dying Like the Dinosaurs: IBM has many of these giant white elephants lying around, with some getting demolished
Links 03/04/2026: USPTO’s Latest Greenwashing and Internet Blackouts Impact Journalists in War Zones: Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 32 Out of 200: Garrett Made Spurious Requests (Later Withdrawn) the Same Week Someone He Later Spoke to by E-mail Sent Threats to Our Webhost: The "plot thickens" because there's a multi-party tag-team act, as confirmed by Garrett after he had sworn on the Bible
IBM is a Dying Company, Nowadays It Kills Red Hat With Slop: when your last day is a national holiday in IBM's country
"Independence Drives" and Community-Run Sites: Independence in reporting is a much-valued trait
When Charlatans Are Only Good at Losing Money and Storytelling (e.g. About Investment in Them): Wait till a a barrel of oil costs $300
What Apple Fans Are Missing: Apple is a bad company
The "Pale Blue Dot" Moment Had Returned: To many people, the "bitter-sweet" observation of how small we are
Saudi Arabia Does Not Rely Much on Microsoft/Windows: Putting aside politics, this is good for Free software
Almost 12 Years of Exposing Corruption in Europe's Second-Largest Institution: The "unready" President is now an abandoned President
Easter Moon Mission and Its Reminder of IBM's Demise: A lot of NASA operations now rely on GNU/Linux
When Power is Scarce and GNU/Linux Has Power: In Cuba, GNU/Linux has long enjoyed high adoption rates
Don't Totally Dismiss the 'Survivalists': 'Survivalists' or similar terms are used to describe a particular mindset of people who prepare for some really awful scenarios
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 02, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, April 02, 2026
A Much Better Use of Fuel Than Slop: Something positive for a change
Hoping for Peace: There are still many things to be enjoyed, including nature and kind people
Gemini Links 03/04/2026: "Slide Rule Triple Multiplication" and End of "Picture Pages": Links for the day
Rumours of Microsoft Layoffs This Season: Just how much trouble is Microsoft in at this point?
GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High in Sweden: Can 'influencers' have played a role

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

Recent Techrights' Posts