[Opensim-dev] personal plea on patents

[dz]

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:08 PM, Mark Malewski <mark.malewski at gmail.com>wrote:

> What exactly is going on?
>
> Did someone apply for a patent?  Are ANY patents pending?  If so, please
> let us know what patents are currently pending, so we can at least look them
> over and contest them.
>
>
>

Yes Diva,

Please lets be a bit more explicit  about  why the sudden interest in
patents...

I don't want to read them,  I don't want to rant about them,   but i am
curious about  why NOW?     Whats the big happy trigger event????

I spent less than 10 minute with a google query "microsoft virtual world
patents"    to collect these 2 interesting gems....


http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/12/microsoft-rethinking-avatar-creation-tools.html

Microsoft Rethinking Avatar Creation Tools?

Microsoft is apparently exploring ways to make Xbox Live avatars more like
their users. To that end, the company has filed for a patent that details
"an Avatar generator for a virtual environment [which] reflects a
physiological characteristic of the user, injecting a degree of reality into
the capabilities or appearance."



and another  interesting  tidbit....

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021009-microsoft-patent.html

Curtis Wong, who is one of four Microsoft Research co-inventors of the
technology, said in a statement: "The goal of this patent is to make the
interaction between the physical and virtual worlds a little more seamless."

Wong, who has authored 45 patents, also was a co-inventor in 2006 on
Microsoft's 5,000th patent, a technology that let people become spectators
in online video games.


so...whats the game?????     When questions get raised about the use of
MONO  and if THAT poses a danger to the project the answer is
NO>>>..Microsoft has  "released" the parts of mono WE use, and  issued a
"promise"  that we don't have to worry about meeting up with a Microsoft
legal team in the future.....     Where's  the outrage over  MS filing
"silly" patents?

I certainly don't want to prolong the off-topic discussions  about the
future of IP...  and I'm not attempting to defend anyone elses' actions.
Except for the off-topic rants...Ive read every word so far  and all I've
really heard is   "DONT DO IT, ITS BAD  and  some references to some event.
Until I know  what the event was, I'm certainly not sure how to evaluate a
followup comment  "  No need to panic, the project is not in danger. "

D
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