"Last year IBM took a significant step forward in cooperation
with the free software community, by offering blanket licenses for
500 of its patents to all free software developers. These are but a
fraction of IBM's software patents, but still it was a substantial
step. These 500 patents, at least, are no longer a danger to free
software developers.
"Since then, various other companies have been exploring how
little they can give to the free software community and still pose
as our supporters..."