Free software, open source, copyleft. Freedom.
2009-06-04
Groklaw – TomTom Settlement Aftermath: Get the FAT Out
It was widely known that FAT is patented by Microsoft, but unlike other patented algorithms, Microsoft was apparently not making active use of the patent against Linux so nobody was worried. Not anymore. TomTom gets the dubious honor of being the first manufacturer that is the target of a patent lawsuit that covers its embedded Linux with FAT support. Much like MP3, plans to remove FAT from Linux products are starting to emerge:
“The Linux Foundation is here to assist interested parties in the technical coordination of removing the FAT filesystem from products that make use of it today.”
Mer is a community project, free and open source. Initially seems much difficult that a project like this become an attractive target for a lawsuit (at least under my subjective point of view), but manufacturers can distribute Mer with their products, and they are encouraged to do that. Those manufactures are much more attractive.
Now what? Ignore patent threats? Put FAT packages and modules in a separate repository? Kill FAT forever?
The only thing that I’m sure is that reading Donald Knuth texts is always an enlightening activity:
Groklaw – Donald Knuth: Mathematical Ideas, or Algorithms, Should Not Be Patented
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roberto@zenvoid.org
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