Microsoft Patents: The New McCarthyism
On February 9, 1950, the junior Senator from Wisconsin spoke to the Republican Women's Club of Wheeling, West Virginia. Based on his speech, the previously obscure Senator skyrocketed to notoriety, began a series of political witch hunts, and set in motion an abuse of power that eventually came to carry his name.
The Senator was Joseph McCarthy, and in his speech he claimed that he had, clutched in his hand, a list of 205 known communists working for the State Department that were allowed to continue working and set US foreign policy.
For nearly half a decade, McCarthy held hearings, intimidated witnesses, and tossed out reckless charges -- despite never identifying a single communist from his list of 205. Long before his fall from power, many concluded that he had no list of known communists and was merely trumpeting sensationalist charges in an attempt to spread fear and gain power.
One of the great benefits of having an undergraduate education in political philosophy is it provides a historical perspective that offers examples of human behavior that are instructive regarding events of today.
It's impossible not to draw a parallel between McCarthy's bullying charges and Microsoft's latest claim that they have evidence that there are 235 patent violations against them in certain open source products.
However, even though McCarthy bequeathed his name to a mode of scurrilous reputation smearing and legal blustering, the man himself died a few short years later, having descended into a richly deserved obscurity, shunned by friend and foe alike. The moral of his apogee and nadir: fear can cause an immediate, panicked response, but is deficient as a long-term policy.
That is why I conclude that Microsoft's announcement in the pages of Fortune that they have a list -- of 235 patents! -- that are infringed upon by open source and that they are ready to browbeat companies into paying licensing fees is, ultimately, a dead-end business strategy and, far from a sign of power, instead demonstrates a numbing fear that they have no sustainable defense against open source software.
While Microsoft can undoubtedly go on a roadshow and threaten end user organizations in an attempt to fork over licensing fees, this is, at the end of the day, the last gasp of an exhausted business model. Worse, it is a reflexive (though understandable) reaction that will, in fact,
Print
The Senator was Joseph McCarthy, and in his speech he claimed that he had, clutched in his hand, a list of 205 known communists working for the State Department that were allowed to continue working and set US foreign policy.
For nearly half a decade, McCarthy held hearings, intimidated witnesses, and tossed out reckless charges -- despite never identifying a single communist from his list of 205. Long before his fall from power, many concluded that he had no list of known communists and was merely trumpeting sensationalist charges in an attempt to spread fear and gain power.
One of the great benefits of having an undergraduate education in political philosophy is it provides a historical perspective that offers examples of human behavior that are instructive regarding events of today.
It's impossible not to draw a parallel between McCarthy's bullying charges and Microsoft's latest claim that they have evidence that there are 235 patent violations against them in certain open source products.
However, even though McCarthy bequeathed his name to a mode of scurrilous reputation smearing and legal blustering, the man himself died a few short years later, having descended into a richly deserved obscurity, shunned by friend and foe alike. The moral of his apogee and nadir: fear can cause an immediate, panicked response, but is deficient as a long-term policy.
That is why I conclude that Microsoft's announcement in the pages of Fortune that they have a list -- of 235 patents! -- that are infringed upon by open source and that they are ready to browbeat companies into paying licensing fees is, ultimately, a dead-end business strategy and, far from a sign of power, instead demonstrates a numbing fear that they have no sustainable defense against open source software.
While Microsoft can undoubtedly go on a roadshow and threaten end user organizations in an attempt to fork over licensing fees, this is, at the end of the day, the last gasp of an exhausted business model. Worse, it is a reflexive (though understandable) reaction that will, in fact,
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