April 4, 2008 10:50 AM PDT
Google unburdens Atom and AtomPub from patents
Good news for those who love Atom and AtomPub as Google announced that they are removing any patent implications to help further adoption.
We've always encouraged other developers to adopt Atom, the Atom Publishing Protocol, and the extensions that Google has created on top of those standards, but we realized the issue of patents may have held back some adopters. Well, those concerns end today as we are giving a no-charge, royalty-free license to any patents we have that you would need to implement Atom, AtomPub, or any of those extensions.
I'm a fan of the AtomPub API and we (MuleSource) use it for Mule Galaxy. I had been a bit concerned about how Google would treat companies that were using it in products but this certainly alleviates any anxiety.
Microsoft should take a lesson from Google (as is often the case) and not just show the APIs but actually allow developers to use them without risk.
Google's license text.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
