I'm sure the Linux community will go nuts over IBM's move to give away 500 patents. I'm sure it will be hailed by the more dim elements of the technology community as corporate vindication of copyleft, a harbinger of a new era in IP reform, and a benevolent move by sweet, innocent, saintly IBM in the face of evil IP hoarders like Microsoft. In reality, of course, IBM has decided that it can make its money through IT consulting services, which means it's in its own interest to promote free software (which it can then turn around and wrap in service contracts). So basically, it will have convinced a bunch of idealistic software developers to make a complementary product for them that they are free to distribute, thereby enabling their own business model. It's a parasitic relationship between IT/consulting and the software industry. And yes, Virginia, parasites are actually bad. All you do when you make software free is shift who gets the money and how.
Don't get me wrong. I think the IP system is completely broken, and I don't think open source is a bad thing per se (though again I reiterate that it's more important that the interfaces be open than the source itself...there is a difference). It's just that the system itself needs to be fixed. Until that happens, refusing to place intellectual property under the proper protections just enables someone other than the developer to make money off it. As a developer, that pisses me off.
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