No to patents

It comes as no surprise to me that Microsoft is part of the patent policy
working group. Their recent licensing changes demonstrate that Microsoft's
only interest is in its own bottom line, not the general state of the Web.

The patent policy group should not be made up of such monomaniacal
corporations; they have only their own interests in mind. Any group
determining the future of patents in standards should be made up of only
professionals who have to use the technology -- not those who created the
technologies. The developers are the ones who are best able to determine the
benefit of patented technology to the developer community.

Perception is reality, and if the W3C is perceived as siding with patent
owners who wish to charge fees for use of the standard, they'll find their
influence among Web developers waning. We don't want to return to the days
of disparate browsers and incompatible technologies, but that's what will
happen if small developers have to spend time worrying about whether
adhering to a standard is infringing on someone's patent.

Charles McPhate
Web Services Manager
Custom Financial Solutions, Inc.

Received on Friday, 5 October 2001 10:11:10 UTC