(Nice guys, eh?) So they know about it - and do nothing against it.īTW, I could imagine that Bill Gates himself would actually like ReactOS.
It does look, however, that Microsoft has, in a way, "recognised" Wine, because I read some time ago that in some products they have implemented checks specifically to counter Wine. In the ensuing media attention, I guess your project would get more money than by any usual campaign. So "whom" do they want to sue? The ReactOS foundation? IN THE USA?! - It WOULD be, of course, a tremendous recognition of ReactOS. And in Europe that will be all meaningless - because there are simply no patents here. then the editor "vi" from Unix v7 hat, in a sense, a "taskbar", not to mention the stuff seen on Xerox and Apple machines.Īnd finally: If MS would be "desperate enough" to sue ReactOS, then a) they just MIGHT win in the USA, although not easily because all sorts of free software organisations will bite them (do not forget that the EFF is collecting patents on free software with the idea to create a status of "mutually assured destruction" - apart from actively fighting patents: ). I mean, WHAT IS a "taskbar"? A piece of element on the screen that you can access to perform other stuff? Well. The point is, in Europe software is generally treated not unlike "literature" or "design".Įven the US patent, as pointed out above, would not survive a court battle very well. The US are pushing hard for it, but they are still not accepted. I have no idea how it is in the US, but in Europe, you would be perfectly right as the maximum protection period IS 20 years - basically, 2015.ĪPART from that, however, THERE IS NO SUCH THING as "software patents" in Europe.
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