diff options
author | Miguel de Icaza <miguel@gnome.org> | 2002-03-22 01:57:52 +0300 |
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committer | Miguel de Icaza <miguel@gnome.org> | 2002-03-22 01:57:52 +0300 |
commit | fde55b46738195ae36fd58eb3f569590ec21633b (patch) | |
tree | a100567540e67cf9d39100fa9ffa91bd4d64711b /web/faq | |
parent | 00315964fd8901081ba16408cfd1fea28c6c4d96 (diff) |
Add section on patents
svn path=/trunk/mono/; revision=3265
Diffstat (limited to 'web/faq')
-rw-r--r-- | web/faq | 31 |
1 files changed, 29 insertions, 2 deletions
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ <a href="#gcc">Mono and GCC</a><br> <a href="#performance">Performance</a><br> <a href="#licensing">Licensing</a><br> +<a href="#patents">Patents</a><br> <a href="#etc">Miscellaneous Questions</a><br> @@ -637,8 +638,34 @@ A: We will have to evaluate the licenses for compatibility first, but as a general rule, we will accept the code under the same terms of the "container" module. -<a name="etc"></a> -** Miscellaneous Questions +<a name="patents></a> +** Patents + +Q: Could patents be used to completely disable Mono (either submarine + patents filed now, or changes made by Microsoft specifically to + create patent problems)? + +A: No. First, its basic functional capabilities have pre-existed too + long to be held up by patents. The basic components of Mono are + technologically equivalent to Sun's Java technology, which has been + around for years. Mono will also implement multi-language and + multi-architecture support, but there are previous technologies + such as UCSD p-code and ANDF that also support multiple languages + using a common intermediate language. The libraries are similar + to other language's libraries, so again, they're too similar to + be patentable in large measure. + + However, if Microsoft does patent some technology, then our plan is + to either (1) work around it, (2) chop out patented pieces, (3) + find prior art that would render the patent useless. + + Not providing a patented capability would weaken the + interoperability, but it would still provide the free software / + open source software community with good development tools, which + is the primary reason for developing Mono. + +<a name="etc"></a> ** +Miscellaneous Questions Q: You say that the CLI allows multiple languages to execute on the same environment. Isn't this the purpose of CORBA? |