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It's doubtful Facebook actually has any relevant patents to license (or revoke a license for) though. OCaml and JS themselves act as prior art for any conceivab

It's doubtful Facebook actually has any relevant patents to license (or revoke a license for) though. OCaml and JS themselves act as prior art for any conceivable thing you would patent for Reason. Remember that copyright and patent law are separate things. If there are no actual patents, then Facebook's BSD + Patents grant just becomes a normal BSD license.

sandGorgon 9y ago
Well they could in the ocaml to js translator. IMHO, Typescript exists and is of similar quality, far higher community mindshare, and moving from TS ->ES6 is much more easier (in an emergency). If you write in Reason, the ultimate risk is if you think you will ever be acquired by Google, Microsoft, etc
- yen223 9y ago
  I'm fairly sure that Bucklescript - the ocaml->js transpiler - is a Bloomberg project. I also find it interesting that Microsoft is still maintaining React-related projects, despite the license issues.
  - chenglou 9y ago
    Btw Bloomberg kindly donated the BuckleScript project. It's now under its own independent organization on Github.
- chrisco255 9y ago
  Oh please, Microsoft uses React in production. Skype app is built on React Native. The business value of a startup has little to do with the tech stack, by the way.
  - sandGorgon 9y ago
    no - you didnt understand what I meant. if you are going to get acquired by a company that has a potential patent dispute (of any kind), then this license is dangerous. Now, people will still use React - because its javascript and at the end of the day, you can rewrite your web stack faster. Imagine if you have a React Native app already distributed, a Caffe2 ai pipeline in production... or if your logic is in Bucklescript. Much harder to move away if your acquiring company is in a dispute.
    - Lazare 9y ago
      > then this license is dangerous. ...if Facebook has any patents. Which, in this case, it seems very likely they do not.
      - sandGorgon 9y ago
        Point taken. But then the question really is - is Bucklescript so much more compelling than Typescript to be playing lawyer-lawyer ?
        Lazare 9y ago
        Bucklescript is from Bloomberg, not Facebook.
      - moron4hire 9y ago
        They have a lot more than I do http://patents.justia.com/company/facebook?list=patents http://patents.justia.com/company/facebook?list=patents
        Lazare 9y ago
        Right, and how many of them are on React?
        moron4hire 9y ago
        Doesn't matter. You're licenses to all of Facebook's software gets revoked for any patent claim against Facebook.
        Lazare 9y ago
        > Doesn't matter. You're licenses to all of Facebook's software gets revoked for any patent claim against Facebook. Incorrect. Your license to their patents gets revoked. Hence why the React license "issue" is basically a paper tiger. (See, eg, https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/react-facebook-and-the-revokable-patent-license-why-its-a-paper-25c40c50b562 https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/react-facebook-and-the-revok...)
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    > Skype app is built on React Native And it shows, because it has become quite unresponsive versus the previous Java/Objective-C/C++ version. Now I always postpone my Skype conversations to a PC near me.
  - jcelerier 9y ago
    Given how badly the latest Skype app performs vs the fast old one, I'd say it's more bad press than good press.
    - chrisco255 9y ago
      I think they dropped the ball on it, quality-wise. But that's not a RN thing, that's a Skype team thing. Instagram works just fine and it runs a significant chunk of its code on RN. For that matter, so does Discord, which also runs great.
- rwmj 9y ago
  > Well they could in the ocaml to js translator. People were compiling OCaml to Javascript long before it was fashionable. js_of_ocaml is 7 years old and the project that comes from is older still. Very narrow and specific implementation details might be patented but compiler technology itself is as old as the hills.
johannes1234321 9y ago
Even if they don't have them now: Facebook is acquiring many companies. Hard to predict which parents they are going to have in a few weeks time.

sandGorgon 9y ago

Well they could in the ocaml to js translator. IMHO, Typescript exists and is of similar quality, far higher community mindshare, and moving from TS ->ES6 is much more easier (in an emergency). If you write in Reason, the ultimate risk is if you think you will ever be acquired by Google, Microsoft, etc

yen223 9y ago
I'm fairly sure that Bucklescript - the ocaml->js transpiler - is a Bloomberg project. I also find it interesting that Microsoft is still maintaining React-related projects, despite the license issues.
- chenglou 9y ago
  Btw Bloomberg kindly donated the BuckleScript project. It's now under its own independent organization on Github.
chrisco255 9y ago
Oh please, Microsoft uses React in production. Skype app is built on React Native. The business value of a startup has little to do with the tech stack, by the way.
- sandGorgon 9y ago
  no - you didnt understand what I meant. if you are going to get acquired by a company that has a potential patent dispute (of any kind), then this license is dangerous. Now, people will still use React - because its javascript and at the end of the day, you can rewrite your web stack faster. Imagine if you have a React Native app already distributed, a Caffe2 ai pipeline in production... or if your logic is in Bucklescript. Much harder to move away if your acquiring company is in a dispute.
  - Lazare 9y ago
    > then this license is dangerous. ...if Facebook has any patents. Which, in this case, it seems very likely they do not.
    - sandGorgon 9y ago
      Point taken. But then the question really is - is Bucklescript so much more compelling than Typescript to be playing lawyer-lawyer ?
      - Lazare 9y ago
        Bucklescript is from Bloomberg, not Facebook.
    - moron4hire 9y ago
      They have a lot more than I do http://patents.justia.com/company/facebook?list=patents http://patents.justia.com/company/facebook?list=patents
      - Lazare 9y ago
        Right, and how many of them are on React?
        moron4hire 9y ago
        Doesn't matter. You're licenses to all of Facebook's software gets revoked for any patent claim against Facebook.
        Lazare 9y ago
        > Doesn't matter. You're licenses to all of Facebook's software gets revoked for any patent claim against Facebook. Incorrect. Your license to their patents gets revoked. Hence why the React license "issue" is basically a paper tiger. (See, eg, https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/react-facebook-and-the-revokable-patent-license-why-its-a-paper-25c40c50b562 https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/react-facebook-and-the-revok...)
- pjmlp 9y ago
  > Skype app is built on React Native And it shows, because it has become quite unresponsive versus the previous Java/Objective-C/C++ version. Now I always postpone my Skype conversations to a PC near me.
- jcelerier 9y ago
  Given how badly the latest Skype app performs vs the fast old one, I'd say it's more bad press than good press.
  - chrisco255 9y ago
    I think they dropped the ball on it, quality-wise. But that's not a RN thing, that's a Skype team thing. Instagram works just fine and it runs a significant chunk of its code on RN. For that matter, so does Discord, which also runs great.
rwmj 9y ago
> Well they could in the ocaml to js translator. People were compiling OCaml to Javascript long before it was fashionable. js_of_ocaml is 7 years old and the project that comes from is older still. Very narrow and specific implementation details might be patented but compiler technology itself is as old as the hills.

johannes1234321 9y ago

Even if they don't have them now: Facebook is acquiring many companies. Hard to predict which parents they are going to have in a few weeks time.