[Patents] Burce Perens: Software Patents vs. Free Software

[srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian)]

Nice repeat of the same old arguments against software patents.  And
yet another example of an argument that can be applied to all other
patents, especially hardware patents.  There is no longer any
practical difference between the amount of effort, ingenuity and
needed lifetime of hardware designs and software designs - the same
tools are used, etc.  So Perens argument is as much an argument 
against most forms of patenting, once you subtract out the worshipping
of software implicit in his arguments. 

Greg Aharonian