On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:02:43 -0800, Tim Smith wrote:
> Note that some self-proclaimed open source advocates make all of the
> following claims:

> 1. Any claims by Microsoft that most Linux distribution infringe
> Microsoft patents is just FUD, and there is nothing to worry about.

> 2. OpenOffice reads and write old Microsoft formats flawlessly.  They
> achieved this by reverse-engineering the formats.

> 3. It is not safe for open source projects to use the documentation
> Microsoft recently released on their old formats, because the license
> for that does not give a patent license except for non-commercial use.  
> Since most open source licenses allow commercial use, you could run into
> serious patent trouble implementing these old formats from those
> specifications.

> Think about that a moment, while also contemplating this interesting
> fact:

>    Whether or not something infringes a patent depends only on what
>    that thing does and how it does it.  It does *NOT* depend on how
>    the implementor of that thing acquired their knowledge of how to
>    implement it.

> This means that if #3 is right, than OpenOffice infringes MS patents,
> and #1 is wrong.  Conversely, if #1 is right, then #3 must be wrong.