New HP AlphaServer the omega of the line

Maybe...: I agree that if a patent/copyright owner was really determined, he could kill a technology in the manner you suggest (provided it wasn't too expensive), but I suspect that most woudn't bother. For example, Apple could try to hang on to the copyright of old versions of NextStep by licensing them for a billion dollars per CPU, but it would be more profitable for them to license them for $50 per CPU "as is" with no tech support.

In HP's case, I believe that the decision to kill off Alpha was more of an internal support issue (why support 3 kinds of chips when its more profitable to support just one?), than an anti-competitive one; after all, the one that HP is standardizing on is Intel's Itanium, which HP neither owns nor controls. If this is the case, they likely they woudn't try very hard to hang onto the patent, or they would try to make a little money off of it by selling/licensing to one or more 3rd parties.

My suggestion clearly isn't perfect (needs tweaking), but I do think that "Use it or lose it" would be the most effective way to insure that patented technologies remain available to the public after their owners have lost interest in them. You are correct that it is more likely to be effective with literary works (or recordings, for that matter) than with technology or software.

You make good points; thanks for your response.; Posted by: John L. Ries Posted on: 10/20/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use