in the last days i got many comments about april fool jokes, good april fool jokes, not so good april fool jokes, patents, former bad companies, and free software in general.

one mail was so deep going and hit the issue so unerring, that i asked mark van den borre for permission to post it here:

[...]

I can only speculate about the negative response you've experienced. My guess is that many geeks are painfully aware how little they can do about the software patents problem already. That's an uncomfortable feeling you're forcing them to look at.

Many of us, in the absence of major pro-swpat attacks against software freedom, see only one way forward: trying to assemble as big an anti-swpat ecosystem as possible as fast as possible. Think free software projects, small software development shops, free software services, conscious users.

Many of us also know it there's even more severe treatment in the legal system of knowing versus unknowing patent infringement, which is why organisations like SFLC tend to discourage public discussion of anythig patent. So you're right, there is something of a taboo. It's even inspired by law and "justice".