[ILUG] RE: Microsoft may have rights to GNU SOftware

[Michael Treacy]

Hi,

In relation to this story that broke last week, here's an article from this 
weeks New Scientist:

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BILL GATES RELINQUISHES RIGHTS TO YOUR LATEST NOVEL.

Microsoft wants you to abandon your hard drive and keep all your files and 
programs on a remote server, from where you would download them when they're 
needed. But a storm blew up last week when someone noticed that the 
"conditions of service" for the system, called .NET, appeared to claim 
copyright on anything it stores.

That would have given Bill Gates rights to anything you wrote on your 
computer, whether it was your latest novel, a patent for a new invention or 
a love letter. Microsoft has now retracted the conditions.

Microsoft says that with the .NET you can access all your files from 
anywhere in the world. And instead of having to buy expensive applications 
like Word or PowerPoint, you'd save money by downloading them from .NET and 
paying by the hour (New Scientist, 1 July 2000, p10.)

But Internet users reacted with horror last week after a subscriber on a 
computer risks newsgroup posted the terms of use for Microsoft's Passport 
software, which will provide user authentication for .NET. The terms said 
users licensed Microsoft to "use, modify, copy, distribute or transmit" any 
messages, files or data posted using the system. The license went on to give 
Microsoft patent rights to ideas contained in files. One patents expert 
described the terms as "outrageous" while another questioned their 
enforceability.

Microsoft now says it was all a mistake. "They're old terms of use," says a 
spokeswoman. "It's an internal mistake and they should have been updated 
ages ago. They should only refer to feedback between the user and 
Microsoft." Rights to any ideas for improving .NET services would be 
Microsoft's, but not your novel or latest invention.

Paul Marks
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Why does they're response sound fishy to me???

If the terms hadn't been publicised, and Microsoft saw something they 
wanted, I wonder if they would have been as quick to claim the terms were a 
mistake?


Mike

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