RE: CNN circumvents the Eolas Patent?

Interesting quote from Mr. Doyle.  Only one problem.  Although plugins
and applets are important to Web, they are actually used much less than
the hype was predicting in the mid-90s.  The browser wars are long over
with.  The Eolas patent isn't important enough to get them going again.

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: public-web-plugins-request@w3.org
[mailto:public-web-plugins-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Eike Pierstorff
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 4:59 PM
To: W3C Public Web Plugins List
Subject: AW: CNN circumvents the Eolas Patent?



> Just wondering why Microsoft does not pay some kind of royalty to
> Eolas and
> let things work the way they do right now?? Is this not an option? Can
> someone respond to this for everyone's edification.
>
>
> Mahtab

This might not be an option.
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20021107.html

<quote>
"It would sure be nice for someone to actually consider all of this from
our
point of view, rather than MS's," wrote Doyle [Mike Doyle from Eolas] in
a
recent message to me. "It amazes me that everyone just assumes that MS
will
be able to merely write a check and make the whole thing go away. [...]

[...] That is what patent rights provide: the power to exclude. What if
we
were to just say no? Or, what if some other big player were to acquire
or
merge with us? What if only one best-of-breed browser could run embedded
plug-ins, applets, ActiveX controls, or anything like them, and it
wasn't
IE?

</quote>

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Received on Thursday, 11 September 2003 17:08:53 UTC