The  Allied Security Trust acquires patents that might at a future date be used to attack companies using Linux. Open Invention Network announced recently that it had bought 22 patents that AST had acquired Microsoft Corporation. Once OIN acquires a patent, they release it for use by others.

Some years ago I realized that since the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) was allowing patents on business processes and software, it was only a matter of time until everything that I do every day when writing programs, would be patented and I would no longer be able to write and sell programs without infringing someone else’s intellectual property. (It would probably be OK to write a program if I kept it secret, but as soon as I try to sell it – kaboom! – the long arm of the law would come down on me.)

In fact, I was an expert witness a few years ago, in a case where a company had patented one of the most basic and key processes related to something that we do every day. Basically if you 1) look at a process and measure it; 2) decide on the basis of measurement what you want to fix or change; and 3) then fix only the things that were wrong… they you would be violating this patent. Holy moly! This is so fundamental you would think it couldn’t be patented. But it was.

And believe it or not, the two companies involved in the dispute settled the case before it went to trial. For tens of millions of dollars. In my opinion, the patent should never have been issued because the fundamental work had been done by someone else in 1973 (not by the person who held the patent). But it had been patented.

The trouble is that even if the patent should never have been granted, it is often more costly to defend yourself, or to get the patent overturned, than it is to settle and pay a ”ransom” to the people who have the patent.

Can you image what the Linux world of open source software would be like if an unscrupulous company — and particularly one which doesn’t actually have any business other than going after people who violate their copyrights — were to patent the basic processes of Linux and then sue everyone to stop them from utilizing the processes?

The business of AST and OIN is to protect us from these nightmares.

The post Defending yourself against patents appeared first on Sky's Blog.

Use Linux! Use Windows because everyone else does and Microsoft isn’t going to go away. Use Java because it runs everywhere. Use Plone/Zope. Use Drupal. Use Open Source. Use commercial products because they’re well-supported. Use Freeware.

On and on we go, extolling the virtues of the various software systems we might use to build a new web site for our particular community of practice.

It’s a fun discussion for geeks everywhere. Promoting our favorite systems. (Mine is Java and ODBC databases.) But, where does it get us in the NPO world?

Well, frequently we build our fancy systems and “nobody comes to the party.” The system is up and running (perhaps except for some small component that “I’ll fix next week”) and the community never arrives or starts using the wonderful tool we’ve put in place.

What happened? Was this a waste of time for us, or did we benefit from all of the learning about the new software system? (I did one of these last week where I learned how to install an SSL digital certificate – it took me alot of time and I learned a lot, and now something really wonderful, all transmissions to and from the computer can be encrypted! – but will anyone use it?)

How can we avoid this terrible waste of time? If such it is.

Well, I contend that the solution is called “analysis and planning.” The analysis portion involves getting your community of potential users together and asking them “what do you really want to do, or what do you expect this online system to support your doing in the real world? Think about and answer this question from the human standpoint.” Are you expecting the system to support an interchange of ideas among a community of 50 people? If so, then are all those people online? Are they all willing to check the web site every day? Are they talkative and knowledgeable and will they contribute to the common store of knowledge that will be accumulating at the web site?

The planning portion involves looking at the “workflow” of the process. That is, determining who will be in charge of suppling the information needed by the system, how that information will flow thru drafting, writing, approval, publication, maintenance/updating, and eventually deletion. What’s the use of having a big powerful content-management system, for instance, to manage the creation and dissemination of newsletters, if you dont’ have someone who will reliably create the newsletter? And someone who will be there to edit them and polish them and make them readable? And to send them out to the population of users when the time is appropriate?

So, let me stress that this planning activity, and the examination of the human systems that will surround your technology-based system once it’s in operation, is probably even more important than the choice of software tool.

[Note that I’ve include a number of reference to WikiPedia in this entry. It’s a great place to explore some of these concepts, get some ideas, and then branch out to more detailed explanations.]

[Minor edits 2009-04-16]

The post Evangelism and process planning appeared first on Sky's Blog.