Upon wandering on to the field of battle, David, loins girded and sling unslung, was heard to ask, "Az mah ha-big deal?" [Translation: "So, what's the big deal?"] It was just about then that Goliath showed up.
Although he doesn't own a sling shot, Tim O'Reilly (of O'Reilly & Associates fame) didn't back down from a giant, either-Microsoft, in this case. At issue was the revelation that NT Workstation 4.0 would limit the number of unique IP addresses to ten or fewer in a ten-minute period, a limitation previous versions of NT Workstation didn't have. This meant that anyone wanting to run a web server on NT would have to buy NT Server for an extra $1000 or so.
Tim fired off e-mail to Bill Gates, encouraging others to follow suit. Initially, Microsoft listened, publicly announcing a few days later that it would not limit the number of TCP/IP connections. However, in simply dropping the reference to "ten minutes," the subsequent license for NT Workstation RC2 (beta B) was even more restrictive and confusing.
As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, EE Times, the Dallas Morning News, and half a dozen other electronic and print publications, DDJ contributing editor Robert Collins found himself staring up into the angry eyes of another industry giant, Intel. This probably comes as no surprise, considering that Robert maintains a web site called "Intel Secrets: What Intel Doesn't Want You to Know" (http://www.x86.org).
What grated Intel's sensibilities was Robert's parody of the Intel logo, not that he was identifying bugs and documenting previously undocumented features in Intel processors. For his part, Robert said he'd happily change the logo under certain conditions. For one thing, he simply asked for written proof of the results of Intel's legal investigation of his web site and of Intel's search for any NDA documents being signed out to him (Robert has never signed an Intel NDA). He also requested that should he change the logo, Intel would never again accuse him of trademark infringement. Finally, he wanted assurances that should he ever change jobs and require an Intel NDA, his web site would not be held against him. Intel steadfastly refused to discuss these issues, opting instead to hire an outside law firm to throw legal slings and arrows.
Falling just short of blinking under Robert's stare, Intel eventually acquiesced to most of his requests. In turn, Robert is changing the logo, although Intel hasn't specified exactly what it wants changed. All this is particularly unfortunate since, as Robert recently told me, "it happened with a company whose products I admire and respect."
If an ongoing thread in Greg Aharonian's Internet Patent News Service (patents@world.std.com) is any indication, developers (large and small) may not have to worry about the onerous E-Data patent (also known as the "Freeny patent") discussed last month. Under the heading "Beginning of the End for E-data Patent," Greg shared a letter from David Rose (chairman and CEO of Ex Machina) who told the story of Ed Magnin and his Telephone Software Company (the tale was subsequently chronicled in BusinessWeek). Back in 1979, David and other Apple II users could dial into TSC's system to view an online catalog and enter credit-card information. The TSC system would then download a transfer program to the user's computer, which in turn would pull down the software users paid for. At its peak, TSC had over 10,000 customers.
Besides clearly establishing prior art in the electronic point-of-sale arena, David's story is a fascinating account of the PC industry in its pre-Goliath days.
Jonathan Erickson
editor-in-chief
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