Re: [Fwd: Re: [GnomeMeeting-list] General standard for text-chat and more...?]

[Herman Robak <herman skolelinux no>]

tir, 09.12.2003 kl. 17.11 skrev Damien Sandras:

> > I, for one, would like to see Gnomemeeting "step up to the plate" and add
> > T.120 chat plus 'whiteboard' capability. 
> 
> T.120 is not for audio/videoconferencing, it is for data-conferencing.
> GnomeMeeting is videoconferencing / VoIP oriented and thus doesn't
> implement the data part of the collaborative tools. Moreover, the
> whiteboard functionality is patented and Microsoft just lost a 56
> millions dollars lawsuit against the company that had patented the
> whiteboard feature for having included it in Netmeeting.

 That was in the USA, I presume.
Should we here in the EU feel the
least intimidated by that?

 By that, you implicitly recognize 
their _right_ to restrict other's use
of an "open" standard.

 Pardon me for getting political here,
but I think shared whiteboards sounds
like a really nifty feature. 
 Why back off bacause of a patent that
is probably not enforcable in the
country of origin?
 Why not let the distros shipping in 
the USA worry about legal repercussions?
They can disable the feature at compile
time, like they do with MP3 support in
some applications.

 We must not act as if American court decisions
set presedence in Europe.  They don't!  Let's
stop acting as if they did.

-- 
 Herman Robak