Shark Bait

Knowledge Centers

Operating Systems

Networking & Internet

Mobile & Wireless

Security

Storage

Business Intelligence

Servers & Data Center

Computerworld Reports

Industry

See your link here

IT Blogwatch

A Daily Digest of IT Blogs from Richi Jennings

OMG! Microsoft patents sudo! Linux and MacOS dead!

24 comments

TAGS:Linux, Microsoft, MSFT, open source, patent, software patent, sudo, uac, User Access Control, USPTO
IT TOPICS:Government & Regulation, Linux, Macintosh & Apple, Open Source, Security, Windows & Microsoft

Wow, Microsoft's latest patent has gotten free software advocates livid. They say the Redmond crew has re-invented sudo, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asleep at the switch. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers get all spun up and worry for the future of Linux.

By Richi Jennings. November 12, 2009.
USPTO logo (MSFT)

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention eye exercise...

Rosa Golijan can't quite believe what the USPTO hath wrought:

Microsoft has been granted a patent for the sudo command ... apparently you can patent a command that goes back to the mainframe days as long as you explain that it's a "personalized version" with a GUI.
...
Someone at the US Patent Office must've been snoozing when they approved this patent application.

Ivo Vegter is relatively subtle:

The latest travesty to be committed by the Einsteins in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will be held up, once again, as proof positive that patent law is ... evil. ... If you run Linux today, you'll be very familiar with what Microsoft just claimed ... as its own invention.
...
Microsoft did not invent "rights elevators". Bob Coggeshall and Cliff Spencer arguably did. The "sudo" command, designed to give a user elevated privileges on a system, ran on BSD Unix ... made public on Usenet in 1985. ... [Patent] bureaucrats have proven hopelessly incompetent ... They do not investigate "prior art", they have no subject-matter expertise ... USPTO happily awards patents to applicants for "inventions" that are not innovative, not non-obvious, not useful, or not accurately described.

Pamela Jones says Microsoft "has no shame":

Thanks, USPTO, for giving Microsoft, which is already a monopoly, a monopoly on something that's been in use since ... the 1970s ... and wasn't invented by Microsoft. ... Sudo is an integral part of the functioning of GNU/Linux systems, and you use it in Mac OSX also. Maybe the Supreme Court doesn't know that, and maybe the USPTO didn't realize it. But do you believe Microsoft knows it?
...
The earliest sudo reference in the patent database Microsoft told the USPTO about is 1997, for patent 5655077, and in other references 1991. ... Software and patents need to get a divorce, before all the geeks in the world either stop coding in disgust or die laughing. ....

But hdood wonders is Pam is illiterate:

This is a knee-jerk anti-Microsoft reaction. The patent is not for sudo, it is for a GUI that automatically presents a list of users that have the required rights so that the user doesn't have to remember and type it manually. ... In fact, the patent application makes a large amount of references to sudo.
...
All big companies have thousands upon thousands of patents like this, and they are intended primarily to prevent other people from suing them. ... Business as usual. If this came as a shock to anyone, then sorry, but you are completely clueless as to how the world works.

Jeremy Visser agrees:

Indeed. In fact, this patent reminds me more of PolicyKit (which is GUI-based) than sudo. See screenshot, which almost exactly matches how I visualised the patent after reading the initial claims..

And Sockatume delivers the final blow:

If I'm reading the patent right, they've actually applied for protection of the UAC popup system that appears in Vista and Win7. There's no unqualified patent on user account privilege escalation. Indeed, "su" would be explicitly outwith this patent's claims, as it's specifically about bringing up an interface to escalate when the system determines that escalation will be required, not about escalating manually before the task is attempted.

Top marks to [Pam] for providing a thorough explanation for how they can't get a patent on something they're not trying to get a patent for..

So what's your take?
Get involved: leave a comment.

And finally...

Eye exercise may boost creativity

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.

Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

Email this

Digg this

What People Are Saying

Add new comment

Vista

Submitted by Sue Baldwin on November 14, 2009 - 10:56 P.M.

I had Vista in my Computer when I got it in August 2008. It has given me nothing but trouble. The curser has episodes where it jumps around . The DVD/CD driver disappears. The search function doesn't locate items that are on my PC, so I have to do a search folder by folder. Oftentimes the search brings up numerous items that have nothing to do with what I am searching. The recycle bin disappears off my desktop. I have numerous errors when trying to use different programs and especially on the internet sites. So, what does Microsoft do? It offers free Windows 7 to those who purchased a computer this year but not even a discount for the rest of us who were cheated with Vista. I had a Mac before and I am going to go back to it. The only reason I haven't is the cost and the lack of available software near where I live. I am disgusted! Sue

Reply | Report this comment

Vista

Submitted by Sue Baldwin on November 14, 2009 - 10:56 P.M.

Reply | Report this comment

Dear Sue Baldwin. If the

Submitted by Anonymous on November 21, 2009 - 1:21 P.M.

Dear Sue Baldwin. If the problems you are describing were typical of Windows Vista it would never have been released. You don't really think that all those issues are “vista bugs” do you? I have been running Windows Vista since it came out AND running some really old software with it. No problems anywhere close to what you describe here.

There were some legitimate criticisms of Vista most of which were fixed in SP1. But for the most part it really is FUD.

Windows Vista isn't great but its not nearly that bad. We just assume that anything wrong with our computer is Microsoft's fault.

Reply | Report this comment

A Mac is a good thing!

Submitted by HawaiianJem on November 15, 2009 - 2:52 A.M.

Sue, your comments about the Mac costing more are true to a certain extent. When you consider you can run multiple VM's with it, the old excuse about there not being any software for it is a moot point. You can also install Cross Over for the Mac, load your popular windows apps and kiss Windows goodbye all together. I was a PC user for a good 20 years before switching to the Mac about 5 years ago and, ever since OSX came out, I have completely loved the experience. I will never go back to the PC again. Take it from me, the Mac is worth every penny.

Reply | Report this comment

HawaiianJem, your comment

Submitted by Anonymous on November 21, 2009 - 1:15 P.M.

HawaiianJem, your comment about running multiple VM's is a moot point since all modern PC's can do this unless your buying an “economy” machine for less then $500. I really like Macs and OSX is *WAY* better then previous versions of Mac OS. However the point remains that Mac's are expensive Intel-based PC's. It makes very little sense to buy a Mac if your going to spend most of your time running Windows in a VM.

Reply | Report this comment

sudo do not elevate the

Submitted by Urmas on November 13, 2009 - 3:36 P.M.

sudo do not elevate the running process. It just creates a new process as if impersonated user.
This patent describes a method of privilege elevation of running process. Two different things.

Reply | Report this comment

Oh, so they use a stair right?

Submitted by William Moraes on November 16, 2009 - 12:45 A.M.

and how do you think they elevate the process? give it a stair to climb up above the admin rights to have access to everything? don't tell me that's different. The OS change the current user running the process to elevate the rights: exactly what su and sudo does.

Reply | Report this comment

If it really is about

Submitted by Anonymous on November 14, 2009 - 12:14 A.M.

If it really is about privilege elevation within the running process, Mac OSX has "Authorization Services" that does this. See the reference manuals on developer.apple.com.
Isn't sudo like Windows' runas? runas has been around a while.

Reply | Report this comment

Isn't sudo like Windows' runas?

Submitted by Anonymous on November 14, 2009 - 9:50 A.M.

Windows runas allows a limited or standard user to run a program as the Administrator. An Admin password is required. And any user with the Admin password has the keys to the kingdom. Its all or nothing.

With sudo, a non-root user can run root commands using their own password. Knowledge of the root password is not required for a non-root user. And the /etc/sudoers file can be modified in a number of ways, such as this non-root user is authorized to run one or a limited number of root commands. Or all root commands. And specific root commands can be specified to run by this non-root user without the non-root password.

The *Nix sudo command provides MUCH more granularity than Windows runas. Same with UAC.

Microsoft missed the boat by not acquiring BeyondTrust and their Privilege Management solution for Windows.

Reply | Report this comment

That UAC popup was in Ubuntu/KDE for years

Submitted by Morely the IT Guy on November 12, 2009 - 5:04 P.M.

Long before Vista was released, there was a "rights elevator" popup for authorizing such things as Synaptix and other repository interfaces, to allow software installation and removal without having to know the root/admin user's password.

So prior art once again, folks. And once again, the USPTO demonstrates their total incompetence to investigate the validity of software patent applications.

Reply | Report this comment