I believe what they are doing right now to be more harmful than doing nothing - with the site locked the way it is, it makes it look like only four people oppose software patents, when the issue is that they are not allowing anyone to comment.

It could be that they were planning on doing more before letting other people loose on their site, but if that is the case, they should've made it private. But, in any event, I certainly would not direct people to their broken site.

Note: I don't know that the petition itself is locked. However, I see no obvious way for users to see the comments on the petition, and I'm not about to become member 5, on a petition which hasn't had new members in over a month, without being able to say why I'm doing so. And if there's a non-obvious method to get the list, it doesn't matter, because ordinary visitors to the site would not spend the time to find a non-obvious method of seeing the comments.

Microsoft has a track record of allegedly breaking actual signed contracts - they've been sued for it numerous times. When they publish a document which claims to be an assertion they won't enforce patents, but does not have the signatures of anyone, let alone the majority of board members (including Bill) I would require to feel comfortable about it, who would believe them?

"Would we or could we ever litigate, yeah sure, it's always an option," says Hilf.

At the same time, Smith was having Microsoft's lawyers figure out how many of its patents were being infringed by free and open-source software. Gutierrez refuses to identify specific patents or explain how they're being infringed, lest FOSS advocates start filing challenges to them.

But he does break down the total number allegedly violated - 235 - into categories. He says that the Linux kernel - the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware - violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces - essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up - run afoul of another 65, he claims. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.

For those Americans interested to stop the US patent hell: Please sign the petition of our American partner campaign AFFII:
http://www.affii.org/

Reasons:
- incentive and performance rating systems inside Microsoft
- tax savings (Ireland!)
- defensive purpose
- stock market ratings: immaterial asset bubble
- …
- the OSP is worthless

?

• US20060271574A1 - Exposing embedded data in a computer-generated document
• US20060259854A1 - Structuring an electronic document for efficient identification and use of document parts
• US20060206794A1 - Method and apparatus for maintaining relationships between parts in a package
• US20060190815A1 - Structuring data for word processing documents
• US20060149785A1 - Method and Apparatus for Maintaining Relationships Between Parts in a Package
• US20060149758A1 - Method and Apparatus for Maintaining Relationships Between Parts in a Package
• US20060143459A1 - Method and system for managing personally identifiable information and sensitive information in an application-independent manner
• US20060143195A1 - Method and Apparatus for Maintaining Relationships Between Parts in a Package
• US20060136816A1 - File formats, methods, and computer program products for representing documents
• US20060136812A1 - Method and system for linking data ranges of a computer-generated document with associated extensible markup language elements
• US20060136553A1 - Method and system for exposing nested data in a computer-generated document in a transparent manner
• US20060136477A1 - Management and use of data in a computer-generated document
• US20060136432A1 - Method and system for controlling software to facilitate cross-version collaboration of files
• US20060107225A1 - Method and computer-readable medium for interacting with a portion of an electronic document
• US20050278272A1 - Method and apparatus for maintaining relationships between parts in a package
• US20050268221A1 - Modular document format
• US20050149861A1 - Context-free document portions with alternate formats
• US20050125720A1 - Programmable object model for namespace or schema library support in a software application

Some of these, like the packing ones, seem to apply directly to OOXML. What isn't clear to us is why Microsoft would pursue patent protection for patents rights that their are promising that they won't assert over users of OOXML.