Hi there, On 20 Aug 2003 at 20:10:36 +0200, Felix E. Klee wrote:
> Is there any chance that the FVWM project participates in > this event? Note that the FVWM web site doesn't need to > be closed down completely. On > http://swpat.ffii.org/gruppe/demo/index.de.html there are > several examples on how it's possible to show ones > concerns without taking such drastic measures, but there's > no need to stick to the examples. > > Just as a quick reminder: Many trivial things are already > patented in the US such as tabbed palettes > (http://swpat.ffii.org/patente/ > wirkungen/palette/index.en.html) which e.g. FVWMTabs is > infringing upon. I for one don't want to have the same > situation in Europe and fear that it will ultimately kill > the competitiveness of Free Software. So this protest is > likely to be our last chance to somewhat influence the > decision making process. I really like if we support this demo. IMO software patents are a serious thing which effects developing free software. Past examples as gif or even the current discussion about the linux kernel show what software patents and copyright issues can cause. As seen software patents lead to the situation that only big companies, I don't want so say any names, can afford to use certain patented ideas, algorithm or methods. Companies which have the money will buy patents and others will have to pay them for that. Having our web site not available for one day for that good reason is really worth it. If nobody minds I could make the web site to be closed completly (all pages will not work even direct links like www.fvwm.org/documentation/manpages), closed partialy (only the entry site will not work) or I could place a statement about software patents on each page for that day. Cheers, Uwe -- Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL: http://www.fvwm.org/>. To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To report problems, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
