Slashdot Mirror
An Insider's View of Software Patents
An anonymous reader writes "Ross Gittins at the Sydney Morning Herald has published an interesting insider view of software patents. This kind of thing is starting to be a hot issue down here with the US-Australia Free Trade deal about to be ratified and bring our intellectual property laws in line with Micros^D^D^D^D^D^D^D America's."
I got the same message - then wondered if it occurred more often. :
...results.
So I turned to google
site:slashdot.org "nothing for you to see here"
There are a total of... 42
The answer to everything, indeed.
What, may I ask, is an "asshat"? And where can I get one?
Go to Lindon, Utah, find Darl McBride, and get him to sit on your head. Instant asshat.
I bet that all you'd have to offer him is some evidence that Linux is infringing on SCO's IP...
Easy!
Visit the Game Programming Wiki!
I hit ctl-s the other day, does it stand for "slow" or something? :( Been waiting 48 hours for a ps -eaf to finish.
I just hope that one of the big'uns start a fight! And we'll get to watch all the Microsofts and the IBMs and the Novells and all the rest of the patent pimps Mutually destroy each other. Oh, man, it would be so great: Barring that, your thing might have some merit
668.5
Ooooh... So you are the reason D. C. is at orange now.
Wil
wiki
If we start putting sane restrictions on patents.... The terrorists have already won.
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
I'll provide coordinates with one condition:
You let me help bomb the shit out of the patent office, as well as select other governmental offices (Dept of Homeland Security anyone?)
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
Sorry, there's a patent on ^H as backspace.
Erm.. If you're complaining about Micros... shouldn't you be using ^H or esc-6-X ?
^D delets in the other direction (depending on your mapping..)
As a fellow Canadian, I would like to point out that the views expressed in the parent post are those of acidrain and do not in any way constitute those of the benevolent, democratic government of Canada or its peaceful people.
We Canadians love our friendly, heavily-armed neighbors to the south and wish them well in their just war against the evil warfare technique, terrorism. We gape in awed silence at the graceful architecture of your Patent Office and other government buildings, and would try to stop someone who wanted to destroy them from entering through Canada.
We have no need to see overhead photos of your buildings, and the only thing we use your ever-so-useful GPS system for is for guiding our fishing boats and helping hikers in our vast wilderness, which you are free to visit anytime as long as you don't bring your gun.
We have oil, but we sell it to you cheaply.
Regards,
The Canadian People
If the corporation is the same as a person then doesn't it have second amendment rights? This seems to make sense since it definately has first and fourth amendment rights.
The reason I am asking is that a corporation is a psychotic entity. Just like a mass murderer it can feel no empathy towards anyone and is unable to control it's compultions. Studies have definitively shown that lack of impulse control and inability to feel empathy towards others is a necassary (though not sufficient) attribute of being a mass murderer.
Maybe that's too harsh. Maybe the corporation is not like a person at all. Maybe it's more like a dog. A dog is a living being, it certainly has some rights but not the same as humans. There are laws against cruelty to animals and yet it's legal to put down a dog when it becomes harmful to others.
Corporations should be treated like dogs. The shareholders are the owners and it's up to them to make sure their dog is properly trained, contained and leashed so as not to harm others. Needless to say the shareholders are also responsible for cleaning up after their dog when it shits in the park.
If a dog becomes violent and hurts people then it should be put down. The corporation should be TAKEN AWAY FROM THE SHAREHOLDERS AND KILLED WITH NO COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER TO THE SHAREHOLDERS. Furthermore the shareholders should be tried for the crimes of their corporations just like dog owners are.
This would solve the problem once and for all.
evil is as evil does
See, he knew ^D is EOF. However, he was trying to exit the Microsoft (or just corporate) controlled America, and can anybody entirely blame him for wanting out of (at least) that part of it?
Maybe corporations need to be programmed to obey Asimov's laws.