ietf-mxcomp
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Sender-ID and free software

2004-07-25 18:28:47

            I would rather resist YOU here and now.

Since I have no power, there's nothing to resist.  All I can do is
present arguments and hope they will persuade people.  If you don't
find them persuasive, they cannot do anything to you.  A mere shrug is
sufficient to resist them.

By contrast, Microsoft, with its software patents, has real power, and
is a real danger.  You can't remain safe from Microsoft by ignoring
it: it can sue you for that.  If a standards committee ignores that
danger, it could mean big trouble for the whole Internet for a decade
or more.

            How DARE you come into this group and make this type of accusation
    without the slightest concern or interest in what the group is trying to
    achieve?

The danger that an important standard feature may be off limits to the
whole free software world is what I'm concerned about.  My
understanding is that this group can make decisions that either allow
that to happen or prevent it from happening.  Even the potential for
such a threat calls for an alarm, so that a terrible mistake is not
made.

If people have already taken the necessary steps to prevent this
danger, I am glad to hear it; however, other messages suggest that
this is not the case, so it is just as well to make double sure.

            Microsoft has been told the license terms it must satisfy for the
    Sumbitter proposal to be a part of the MARID standard and the time by which
    they must provide the necessary assurances.

Would the provision of these assurances involve changes in the
Microsoft license such that implementations undr some kind of free
software license would be permitted?  If so, that would solve the
problem.  Thank you very much, if you have insisted on this already.


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>