Re: Gates Patents Flipping a Light Switch

[phil hunt]

On Fri, 14 May 2004 16:45:21 -0400, Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
>No, I didn't overlook it.  My point is that without patents, even these 
>rare wins would be virtually impossible.  Patents are one of the few 
>weapons a small player can wield against a behemoth like Microsoft.

On the contrary, patents help microsoft in their fight against pesky 
competition, especially that of the open source variety. MS *loves* 
patents, because it gives them the chance to make it a crime for 
anyone to compete with them.

For the same reason, MS loves laws that seek to make it 
illegal to read a data format, such as the DMCA and EUCD.

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