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Torvalds And Cox Write EU Parliament On Patents
replicant_deckard writes "Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox have sent an open letter to the members of the European Parliament. They ask for strict limitations to software patents, argue for open standards and ask the members of the parliament to follow FFII's voting recommendations. Vote on the controversial software patents directive will be on Wednesday and it is expected to be a very close one. Well, do you believe these guys have any impact in Brussels?"
That a few of your ECC types finally understand a few things:
1) The representatives to the EU are not elected, therefore are not responsible to you (i.e., the people who pay the bills)
2) Goverments understand that jobs and money keep people happy, not liberty (ref: See China), and therefore, they'll sell your soul if it keeps you in the middle class.
3) Big business promises jobs (despite their proclivity to move jobs to overseas [ref; See China] if it nets them 1 pence more than they have today) so politicians don't want to rock the boat (see point 2 above).
4) The EEC->EU move is primarily a way to make belgium & france relevant in a way they haven't been since 1936; scandanvia appears to be the only area of europe smart enough to understand this.
5) The EU will throw out stuff like "human rights" the way a cow shits; that is, it comes out the ass end in a way that looks like its planned, but is primarily a way to keep people happy (see point 2 above).
What does all this mean? That the EU doesn't give a crap about what you think about software patents. If big business is telling them it will cost jobs if they don't pass it, then it will pass (see point 2 above).
Do you finally get it? People in the US don't get it yet, and its smacked them across the forehead like the wet kiss at the end of a hot fist. Like the frog in water, the temperature is being raised 1 degree at a time so we don't notice what is going on.