Re: rough first impressions

[Raffael Cavallaro <raffaelcavallaro@xxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday, April 16, 2003, at 01:46 PM, James Knight wrote:

> While it's all well and good that you're claiming "innocent messenger" 
> status, the fact is that you're trying to convince people not to 
> develop features which are patented.

No, I'm pointing this out as something to be careful of. Be aware that 
you might be required by the courts to license said features.

>  If you actually took the view that you won't write any software that 
> is covered by a patent, it would be utterly impossible to write any 
> software *at all*.

I merely said  that it "raises legal issues as to whether or not you 
can design a language to use this feature without licensing it." I 
never said that one should never write any software that is covered by 
a patent. Just be aware that you may have to license some things.

> Perhaps you transmit binary data between computers? Uh oh, then you're 
> surely violating this one. Better stop that!

The existence of some, even many, silly patents, does not prevent 
others from withstanding legal challenge.

> Anyhow, this thread is greatly off topic now, so I'll stop posting now.

Agreed.


Raf

Raffael Cavallaro, Ph.D.
raffaelcavallaro@mac.com