

Google Grants MapReduce License to Apache/Hadoop - cgs1019
http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/hadoop-general/201004.mbox/121803A3-CFB9-489B-96EF-027234E55D25@apache.org

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strlen
_That_ is "don't be evil" demonstrated. Google could have kept GFS and
MapReduce strictly confidential (no paper published, merely a patent) and sue
those who implemented anything similar.

Microsoft had at one point used Hadoop and HBase (via the Powerset
acquisition), they've also made their own MapReduce (Dryad) and Sawzall
(DryadLinq) equivalents. It's admirable that Google resisted the temptation to
patent-troll them (not that patent trolling has any actual benefit, it just
sounds like a typical "evil big corporation" thing to do).

~~~
nivertech
Dryad is not MapReduce. M/R is just a very simple case of what Dryad can do.
But Dryad is not available for serious use outside Microsoft. Also Google only
got implementation patent, it's only applicable to Hadoop, which is a Java-
based clean room implementation of Google's M/R.

Zvi

~~~
bad_user
> _Dryad is not MapReduce. M/R is just a very simple case of what Dryad can
> do._

That's irrelevant ... if it touches on the claims of the Map-Reduce patent,
then it infringes.

Being a company that releases stuff in the open sure is a disadvantage.

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mark_l_watson
I expected them to do this - good for them. As much as I tend to distrust
large corporations, Google has some coolness, and I can't think of another
large corporation that I distrust less than Google.

~~~
sp332
The only one that's up there for me is Mozilla. The implementation of the
Weave platform so far puts user privacy way above Mozilla's business
interests. The dedication to open development and management is higher than
Google's.

~~~
papachito
Mozilla is not a corporation, it's a non-profit foundation:
<http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/>

~~~
sp332
The Foundation owns the Corporation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation> Still, I see what you mean
- Mozilla doesn't generally act as a business would.

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juliusdavies
I wonder if this means anyone can use MapReduce (even outside of Apache code).
ON the other hand I see no mention of 'derivative works' in this section of
the license.

So, yeah, I'm curious if this patent license is transitive such that people
creating new works based on the Apache code can always use the patent license.

Apache Software License 2.0

<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html>

3\. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this
License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-
exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this
section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import,
and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those
patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by
their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s) with
the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You institute patent
litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a
lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution incorporated within the Work
constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent
licenses granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate as of
the date such litigation is filed.

------
lpgauth
The message seems to have disappeared. Here's the next message in the thread:
[http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/hadoop-general/2010...](http://mail-
archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/hadoop-general/201004.mbox/browser).

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tedunangst
What happens if I take the hadoop code and modify it? What about a very
substantial modification?

~~~
borism
licenses are granted to legal entities, not some code?

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qeorge
The submission seems to have dropped the last > of the URL, causing a 404.

Here it is as a tinyUrl:

<http://tinyurl.com/36jzc7v>

~~~
mattyb
And lengthened:

[http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/hadoop-general/2010...](http://mail-
archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/hadoop-
general/201004.mbox/%3C121803A3-CFB9-489B-96EF-027234E55D25@apache.org%3E)

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helwr
dup: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287969>

~~~
cgs1019
Ah, thanks. Can anyone point me to a reference on entering special characters
in HN URLs and comments? If I had entered the URL properly, this would have
been presented to me before I posted the link.

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daniel02216
The link is a 404 for me. Is there a mirror or another link?

