Guardian Unlimited | Online | Patent absurdity. This is a great article by Richard Stallman, and nicely explains what is so bad about software patents.
I posted on this subject back in April, and I did actually use writetothem.com to write to one of my MEP's about it. My MEP wrote back within a fortnight, saying that she would not support software patents.
Read the articles, and think about it. If you find that you like Open Source software, please write to your MEP and tell them what a bad idea this is.
What's really bad is that, as reported by the FT, the Parliamentary Comittee involved has just voted to reject the amendments that would make software patents difficult. This is sickening - big corporations are building patent portfolios that will make it impossible for small businesses to operate, and that will stifle innovation in the IT industry. Read this to understand what is going on in European Parliament (not an easy read, but worth it) - the decisions do not seem to be influenced by the reports commissioned from the EU Parliament's Committees for Culture and Industry, which said that software patents are a bad idea, but by a Legal Affairs Comittee who are 'close to the patent establishment'.
Basically, this is big business for those that can afford a patent portfolio (and their lawyers), and they don't care about anything else.
I don't want to come across too full-on, but we have a chance to stop this happening - if you use or appreciate innovation and Open Source (which indirectly includes all Mac users - Open Source made OS X possible), please write to your MEP's and calmly and rationally explain that software patents are a bad idea, and that you would like them to vote against any software patents in the plenary in July (yes, that's next month).
Rant over, and thanks for reading.
Update: There's a bit more on what you can do to prevent EU Software patents here.