CA donates software patents to open source

John Swainson, the CEO for anti-virus and security products producer Computer Associates will announce a donation of some of its software patents to open source software developers. It will be good to see the shape that this offer takes. IBM's offer took the shape of a legally binding non-assertion promise of 500 of its software patents. Hopefully, CA's promise will unlocked more patents, which should go a long way towards creating an open source free environment.