CIL hypothetical question

[Gabriel]

I have a hypothetical question for someone at Microsoft
to answer.

Let's say I have built my own proprietary language. I
also have a small following of developers, and I have
made some money off my language and tools. Now I would
like to consider the possibility of compiling my language
to CIL. However, I am worried that in doing this, we may
have to pay fees to Microsoft in the future should
Microsoft claim patent rights on CIL. Can Microsoft offer
me an absolute assurance that Microsoft will never seek
money from me because I compile my proprietary language
to CIL? If an MS rep could shed some light on the
subject, I'd appreciate it very much.

 

[Sven Groot]

I have a hypothetical question for someone at Microsoft
to answer.

Let's say I have built my own proprietary language. I
also have a small following of developers, and I have
made some money off my language and tools. Now I would
like to consider the possibility of compiling my language
to CIL. However, I am worried that in doing this, we may
have to pay fees to Microsoft in the future should
Microsoft claim patent rights on CIL. Can Microsoft offer
me an absolute assurance that Microsoft will never seek
money from me because I compile my proprietary language
to CIL? If an MS rep could shed some light on the
subject, I'd appreciate it very much.

I am not a Microsoft representative, nor a legal expert, but CIL is
standardised by ECMA, so Microsoft cannot ask license fees on it, because
it's not their property.

 

[Eric Gunnerson [MS]]

I don't think anybody can offer *absolute* assurance.

I can say that many other languages have opted to target CIL.

If you want something better than that, drop me a line at
(e-mail address removed), and I'll hook you up with the guy who owns that for
us.

--
Eric Gunnerson

Visit the C# product team at http://www.csharp.net
Eric's blog is at http://webblogs.asp.net/ericgu/

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.