[Python-Dev] Support for Python/Windows

[Olemis Lang]

Hi !

On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Steve Holden<steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> Christian Heimes wrote:
>> Steve Holden wrote:
>>> Devs:
>>>
>>> If you are interested in offering better Windows support then please
>>> read the email below
>>
>> [...]
>>
>>>> MSDN subscriptions include copies of most Microsoft products (including Office and Exchange) for use while developing and testing software.  For more details, check here - we provide Visual Studio Pro with MSDN Premium under this program (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/subscriptionschart.aspx).
>>
>> Thanks you for getting in touch with Microsoft. The deal is worth a
>> fortune for any Windows developer!
>>
>> Does the MSDN subscription also include the permission to create and
>> release binaries?
[...]
>> Can you
>> please verify that we are allowed to use the subscription for that
>> purpose, too?
>>
> I'll ask. I don't see why not (it would hardly be in Microsoft's
> interest to help us create unreleasable open source projects, would it?)
>

When talking about MS + FOSS everything is possible :-/

My question is the following :

- What are the implications for Py users ?

I mean, even if somebody (not me but enterprises & organizations I
work or may work for in the future ;o) decides to use Windows pay for
that and everything else, I'd not like to qualify as a "pirate" (or
alike) for using a Py distribution or app including MS Intelectual
Property (MSIP) (and MS loves MSIP -even if nobody can see it- and all
kind of legal issues, especially with FOSS) nor even have Py in the
middle of a patent dispute or something ...

And they have some "great" innovations [1]_ to ensure (sometimes, I
know) that (some) apps (who decides ?) wont run on a Win host. I could
mention a lot of snippets in that text (yes it's very "interesting"
and "substantial", and "useful" ) here goes one of them :

{{{
According to another aspect of the invention, the digest catalog
includes, for each program file corresponding to an application or
driver that should be executable by the computer, a digitally signed
hash value that is generated from a hash function based on the
corresponding program file. When attempting to load a particular file,
the loader generates a hash value and compares it to the decrypted
hash values in the digest catalog. If the comparison results in no
matches, then the corresponding program file (and thus the application
or driver) is not loaded.
}}}

OTOH :

- What are the implications for other devs (not core ;o) who use to
download sources and try new things, or perhaps use Py code the way
they want to solve an specific issue, or modify it somehow to
experiment or learn something, or whatever ?
- Will that affect contributions from «future or potential» devs ?
- Will they also need an MS license to see or compile (or whatever)
the changes contributed by Py devs ?
- What about if for some reason, a idea or impl or alg or snippet (or
whatever) is propagated to GNU/Linux distributions and it's MSIP?
(considering former disputes like «Linux kernel violates 42 of MS
patents») ?


.. [1] Restricted software and hardware usage on a computer
        (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=7,536,726)

PD: My question is not technical at all but at least for me is
important (even if I'm not a lawyer, nor a core Py dev  ;o) since I
manage (and develop ;o) several Py-based apps running on Win hosts in
different locations .

Finally I clearly see that this msg is strongly influenced by my
biases, paranoia, and maybe I'm overreacting ... but I prefer to ask
before things actually happen (and MS has a long history specially
with FOSS + patents + legal affaires).

I apologize in advance if I'm being rude or naïve or *

-- 
Regards,

Olemis.

Blog ES: http://simelo-es.blogspot.com/
Blog EN: http://simelo-en.blogspot.com/

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