[Am-info] Lessig's Findings, Other

[Raphael Fleishman]

The text of Mr. Lessig's congressional testimony is available on the web

http://lessig.org/content/testimony/msft/msft_times.doc.html

There's also a pdf file on his homepage.

I agree with Mr. Reiser's observations (although I have only a 
superficial understanding of the technology involved) and note there 
exists a significant dependence by third-party software for 
Application Programming Interfaces that hook in to what are common OS 
functions (creating dialog boxes and windows, writing to the disk, 
etc).  Knowledge of these kinds of  "hooks" is absolutely required to 
develop meaningful software of any complexity, and is especially 
critical in works like Mr. Reiser's.

Even higher-level multiplatform rapid application development tools 
used to help programmers develop using a common code base - that once 
compiled for the different OS platforms executes within an 
OS-specific shell-like runtime environment - are limited by these 
tools' runtime environment's ability to correctly function with 
OS-specific APIs.

It would be disturbing if alternatives to Microsoft compilers were 
disadvantaged by Microsoft's lack of timely revealing of API changes 
or if Microsoft decided to sabotage a competitor's software by 
modifying or obsoleting Windows APIs without warning.

Mr. Reiser's observation that

"...only one characteristic [...] necessarily defines the
separation of a software product, and that is the license.  A license
is a contract..."

is an excellent definition the court should be aware of in 
determining whether a good is indeed a "tied good" and not a 
component of the OS.  Another method of determining if a component is 
indeed "bundled" or an integral component of the OS is the existence 
of a substantial, meaningful body of APIs the component provides to 
third-party developers.

Best Regards,

Raphael Fleishman

>
>From: Steve Cohen <stevecoh1@yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [Am-info] RFC: attacking Lessig's attack on States's position
>To: Hans Reiser <reiser@namesys.com>,
>	"am-info@venice.essential.org" <am-info@venice.essential.org>
>
>I've not seen the position of Lessig that you're
>arguing against. Although your argument seems
>convincing to me, still, I should like to know what
>Lessig (usually an astute observer) said.  Can you
>post a link to it?
>