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Inventor of Optical Storage Gets Little Reward

Posted by michael on from the happy-birthday-to-linus-torvalds dept.

Thu Anon Coward writes "This poor guy invented optical storage (CDs, DVDs) and never made a dime. Another case of an idea before its time and cheating a man of his due. To quote the article, 'Consumers will spend billions this holiday season on CDs, DVDs and machines to record and play the ubiquitous silver discs. But the inventor of the underlying technology won't make a cent. Today, Russell does consulting from a lab in the basement of his Bellevue home to keep in the game and supplement a modest pension from Battelle.'"

8 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    My thoughts exactly.

    First post!

  2. Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    As usual, business fucks over innovators. No suprise, it's in their nature.

  3. Capitalism is about exploiting people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Those that get rich do so by exploiting the hard work of others.

  4. Re:Trademarks and Copyrights can drive you crazy. by Zorilla · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's also a hotel in Washington, D.C. Who gives a fuck?

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  5. Many great innovators have suffered.. by TheCeltic · · Score: 0, Troll

    Let's see...

    Word Perfect (Practically put out of business by a monopoly that copied the technology)

    Netscape (Ditto)

    Real Networks (Ditto)

    Lotus (Ditto)

    MAC (Ditto)

    IBM's OS2 (Ditto)

    SUN (Ditto)

    And who would the Monopoly be?

    America needs to refocus on rewarding the innovators, not simply the immitators that have superior marketing skills. The thing that has made America the greatest in technology is innovation, not market share.

    --
    =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= - The Celtic - =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  6. Re:Get a grip by Moofie · · Score: 1, Troll

    Right, the famous Slashdot overmind. It's not possible for different humans who post here to have differing opinions on any topic.

    It's all of us against you, the Only Holder of the Truth. Gosh, it must feel so GOOD to be morally superior to all us sheep!

    --
    Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  7. Re:His Plight Awaits all Americans in China by uhlume · · Score: 0, Troll

    This isn't "Interesting", it's a troll, in a long series of trolls. Mods, get a clue.

    --
    SIERRA TANGO FOXTROT UNIFORM
  8. Look who posted the article: michael by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Slashdot "editor" michael has a long history of baseless corporation-bashing, posting articles complete with his worthless Leftist commentary about the evils of free market cooperation. Plus, if you post the kind of criticism I'm posting as a logged in user you'll get banned or have user rights revoked for simply disagreeing. I already have one account all but locked out because of stating my opinion of michael, I can't risk my other account.