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BT Pushing Hyperlink Patent
There's been a lot of new publicity lately about the British Telecom trying
to defend a patent that they claim means
they invented hyperlinking. Currently they are going after Prodigy for
using hyperlinking back in the early eighties. We've
mentioned
this one before, but it really looks like they are going to
push it. Insane.
http://www.theonion.com/onion3311/microsoftpatents .html
Except the for fact that the current article seems to be based in fact.
What beef does BT have with the group Prodigy?
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I have not yet begun to procrastinate!
The last part of the article:
'See "internet links" for the text of BT's patent. There is no charge for doing so.'
*snicker*
(-:
Vatican (Feb 11 2002) - After hearing a lot of reports over various parties claiming to have invented the hyperlink. The Holy se, today delcared the issue closed, by stating that hyperlinking was initially implemented by God almighty (See RFC -1).
God Alimigty, Pope cried, was the definite inventor of what we now regard as the means of travel on the Internet. God, apparently envisoned the need for his slaves to find where they are and where they would go, thus he created what is now known as a pointer (or the index finger).
Furthermore it was also suggested by the Vatican technical commity that God defined the pointer as a pointer to unsigned long. Where long is defined as the number of days (See day definition on first page of bible) the universe would exist.
Copies of this declaration has been sent to the USPO and other such offices.
Please disregard any fake stories of hypertext invention and linking from now on.
Father Amaa Fui (Phd. CS and Deutology)
They'll win, then we can all sue them for the time wasted clicking on broken links...
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Mod -1, I shouldn't be allowed to post when I'm bored.
As mentioned in the article, Douglas Englebart demonstrated something that sure looks like a hyperlink. Once again, Xerox PARC saves us all! w00T!
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
"I'm not a dork, I'm a geek. Ask my girlfriend."
Geeks don't have girlfriends. You are at most a technically gifted person, who has a girlfriend.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
If this passes, I guess you'll see plenty of dead URLs floating in Boston Harbor...
Next thing you know Al Gore is gonna start defending a patent that he invented the Internet....
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
I thought Al Gore invented hyperlinking...or was that Microsoft. Now I'm all confused.
eMelody Web Directory add your site today!
Sounds like an interesting article, but I didn't click on the link to read it for fear than I was infringing on somebody's hard earned patent.
First I had use lynx so that I wouldn't inadvertantly see any GIFS, but I suppose now I'll have to find a text-based browser that doesn't show any hyperlinks as well.
Social Contract? I don't remember signing any Social Contract!
> It's depressing, really....
I couldn't agree more, but try convincing a market (the economic equivilent of the spoiled brat that gets what it wants, no matter how bad it is for itself in the future) of that. Everyone's a little too distracted by the amazing special effects, 500 channels and the 'rewindless VCRs' (DVD players) we've invented! Yay!
"Old man yells at systemd"
That'll show them!
OK, so the patent looks like total nonsense, and they're probably hoping to bully people into settling, but just think what would happen if the won.
It could pretty much shut down the Web in the USA, or at least severely disrupt it, by forcing people to pay BT tax, or come up with some disgusting work-around.
Of course, this would not apply to most of the rest of the world, because we still haven't quite given into the lobbying of the WTO and USPO types that want the rest of the world to adopt US patent silliness.
So briefly we'd have BT holding the USA to ransom.
Pretty soon after that the public outcry against the USPO might finally reach the ears of enough US politicians, to result in the USPO being beaten up in the manner that they've clearly deserved for years.
The final result being that people would have their eyes opened to the stupidity of allowing patents on software and business methods.
So, join the "BT for Web supremacy" campaign today!
Debian: GNU/Linux done the Linux way
Why mess around with around with FidoNet? Why not just go back to using uucp and start an underground Usenet. Might be fun.
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Is it too late to patent the middle finger gesture? ;-)