[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 02:36:58PM -0700, Andrew Lentvorski wrote:
Since the code is now released, you can rewrite the Java/JVM code to go
*around* any patent. You can't do that with the CLR.
I think I read Miguel saying he could just rewrite any Mono portions that were
patent encumbered. Why isn't that true?
It might be true; it might not be true.
The problem is that the Microsoft license bought by Novell adds a whole
lot of "fuzziness" to what is and isn't true, valid, applicable, etc.
It also depends on how big the chunk that is covered is. For example,
if Microsoft has patents covering the UI elements of the .Net forms
library, you can't really make something that looks like it without
stomping on the patents. And, if it doesn't look and work like .Net,
what's the point of Mono?
In Windows vs. Linux, nobody really cares if they look or work alike, so
you can probably work around a patent. If Mono doesn't look and work
like .Net, then there's no point.
It would be more like Wine or ReactOS tripping over a Windows patent.
It's entirely possible that you couldn't actually get around it while
still serving your goals.
-a
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