Slashdot Mirror
MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves
theodp writes "Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. And don't forget to download your free Thought Thieves Poster!"
They have full experience in the complete spectrum of this matter although the balance is a bit thin on the creative side. So I think they make a perfect judge perhaps not the most unbiased but who cares about that anyway, just go with the current-flow.
That's Microsoft's job.
No it's not the hitler youth, it's the Thought Police Youth.
Just took 20 years longer than 1984.
Call the thought police!!! :)
Sorry, it just had to be said
what a lame attempt at teaching IP rights to youngins
"Ms. PEEAAABODDDYYY!! Bobby is stealing my THOUGHTS!!"
This competition is supposedly about "people stealing the ideas in your head".
I'm going to make a film and enter it, it will be called "Embrace, Extend and Extinguish".
I tried to think of some witty comments here but there is nothing I can say funnier, darker, or more ironic than the story itself. This is even richer than when the MS Front Page license including a clause forbidding the use of Front Page to make web pages critical of Microsoft. The gall of these people! This is a new low, though, even for them. "Thought thieves"?! Someone up at MS is having a huge laugh over this.
Thought Theives? So if I have an idea, never share it with anyone and never act on it or put it into any real tangible form and someone else has the same idea and acts on it, they're a thief and I'm a victim?
Talk about poorly labeled.
Oh well. Nothing surprises me anymore. I just hope kids remain indifferent enough that they don't buy into this. What's unfortunate is that I think - if they get to these kids early enough - they'll change their attitudes for life. Kind of like those school programs that convince second graders that their parents are evil if they smoke and that they're alcoholics if they have a glass of wine.
No-one wants to steal Microsoft's idea for a "Thought Thieves" competition.
Didn't Bill steal most of his ideas from other people?
I don't know, this whole thing is just bizzare.
"I'll just chip in a bit for RedHat: I actually have that installed on my university machine." - Linus, '95
...april the first has padded already!
as my friend just said.. "that's just sick"
should include "unless you're like microsoft or something and you just basically steal other people's ideas and profit exponentially from them... then i wouldn't mind if one or two people below poverty level stole my IP." ;)
I have a feeling this is a hoax. But it'll make people think...
The terms and conditions are a great bit of legalese - that no 14-17 year old would read let alone understand - If anything interesting comes out of this competition Microsoft may use it free of even the Moral Assertion of the author...
A shrubbery
Is a hat made of foil, nicely shaped like an eggbeater bowl but also maybe an elephant midget to prevent brain spillage on the daisies. Maybe, too, some contact lenses, as thoughts can be stolen from retina scans by Nazi biometric technology funded by Howard Hughes.
So start earlier. I recommend early childhood, age 4-6. I recommend showing movies to those kids where "thought thieves" are evil, dark figures that, preferably, linger under kids' beds. You'll make very powerful subconscious fears your ally that way.
Alternatively, start later. Most teenagers and students will really like the idea of sharing thoughts, and software, and music, and they will only part with it when they enter business life and get a chance to make money themselves by stopping to share. I recommend offering every potential free software/open source developer a large amount of money if they license their stuff to you, exclusively. If that doesn't work, offer them a job at Microsoft, and pay them well. Very well. You might be able to stem the tide that way.
But seriously, I don't think you will. There have always been developments in history that were so natural and unstoppable that it made those who tried to stop them extremely funny to look at. You're in the process of becoming such a comic figure, Microsoft.
Microsoft brings us Orwell's grand vision of 1984, but 21 years late. Slipped deadlines, that is so typical of Microsoft.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
JPEG of the "Thought Thieves Poster"
Microsoft Thought Thieves? Aren't they the ones usually stealing ideas from other companies? I can't think of one innovative and original piece of software from Microsoft.
--
Fairfax Underground: Fairfax County, VA public message board
What would I do?
I certainly wouldn't set up a competition involving the most imaginitive age group of 14-17, get them to give all their ideas to me, and then steal their rights to them.
"Thought thieves is about people stealing the ideas in your head. It sounds like science fiction but it really happens, and it happens all the time." Anyone find this poster a bit partronizing, even for 14-17 year olds?
(And not just for the 14-17 year old British girls).
I wonder if they'd like my entry "GPL Wars: Revenge of the Linksyth".
"Anakin, don't use that code! It's a trap!"
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
This is reminiscent of the brainwashing of kids in the Youth League in Orwell's 1984.
Can minors legally sign away their rights here in the UK? Seems a bit odd.
Now, if only they'd use PDF here, like every other company in the world, perhaps they would look more professional.
(Then again, when they can publish figures like these, who cares whether they look professional or not?)
Basically, they'll be including stickers on their new products that say "Don't Steal Thoughts."
"If I have seen so far, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" -- Isaac Newton.
Microsoft only have got where they are today by standing on the shoulders of giants - people who were free with their (highly insightful) thoughts. Don't they remember this?
I shudder to think how progress would get held back if each individual jealously guarded their thoughts from each other. This campaign sends entirely the wrong message.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
The subject of the videos is supposed to be 'intellectual property theft'. But as I'm most here know, copying something or using a patented device with out a licence is not theft. It does not deprive anyone of anything.
No one can own an idea.
If you want to claim you own data, keep it private. Once you sell it to me, it is mine, to keep or to give away.
Copyright is immoral. If you tell me a story, you do not have the right to tell me that I cannot repeat it. Everyone has the right to say what is on their mind, regardless of who first thought of it. The mere act of creation does not give you any special rights to tell other people what they can do with their property.
This is part of a pattern of major IP holders brainwashing children,
there needs to be an alternative voice in the classroom.
Abolish Copyright. Restore Freedom.
Currently in my mind i am breaking a hell of alot of copyright laws. . .
. .. Way to go microsoft ..
.
Songs that get stuck in my head , many many ideas , Songs i remember
I occasionaly hum a tune thats most likely copyrighted
I have an idea that may already be patent.
When you start labeling copyright/patent infringment Thought theft then your walking on a really dodgy line. it really does sound incredibly facist
We should be teaching children to share and help others , instead we are teaching them suspicion and greed
I really hope alot of kids send MS vidios depicting facist states Abusing its citizens in some cyber punk future where your thoughts are monitored
as it was the first thing that came to my mind when i heard thought thieves
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
All the little companies the've tried to squash should enter this. This really is the elephant man calling the ugly duckling ugly.
I seriously feel sorry for those guys. Oh, woops they're filthy rich, nevermind.
- this may only be viewed on computers whose operating system conforms with the Free Software Foundation licenses.
- the intellectual property embodied in the submission may be used freely by Microsoft if only if images of Bill Gates and the image formerly displayed at www.goatse.cx are displayed side by side in a prominent place.
- Microsoft agrees to make all specifications of Office formats available to the public free of charge in usable form in perpetuity. Final determination of usability to be made by Linus Torvalds or any successor designated by him.
- Microsoft agrees that these terms override any terms of any "click-through" EULAs accompanying this submission.
Seems fair enough to me.Tech Public Policy stuff
It really depends on what stealing means.
Microsoft is so rich that it can afford to buy what it cannot steal, but the border is somewhat very thin especially if we talk about ideas.
Microsoft bought the browser stealing it from Netscape idea (not even that, really, Mosaic was even before Netscape)
Microsoft "made" C# stealing the whole idea from Sun's Java (not even that, pseudocode was really available from pascal age)
Microsoft wants to "steal" market share for games and cellphones from established companies.
But the above, legally, are not stealing, but we all understand that there is something wrong. What is wrong is using the HUGE amount of money earned to force trough a market. Something that would have never been possible othervise.
So, what do we understand from the competition ?
If quite a few people go with Microsoft then we understand that quite a lot of people can be bought off with a tiny sum and they are "not smart enough" to understand that this is great marketing for Microsoft (Tecnically Microsoft is not stealing the competitors ideas).
If instead this is a flop, then possibly the level of understanding is not so low.
It is important to note that the above may not be a measure of "smartness", but on how little the average person know about the subject. In other words, if you have a chance to help a rich or a poor person who would you like to help ?
You think that's funny? Try this:
http://freetodd.org/MS-Poster.gif
This poster was stuck up all over my San Diego, California college campus.
If aspiration is a virtue, achievement cannot be a vice.
What would I do if I saw someone passing off my ideas as their own ?
;-)
Well, I'd probably suspect it was Microsoft.
There's an idea for at least one entry
And I release the idea to the public domain so that nobody can "steal" it.
The star sees a concept for a revolutionary computer interface. He hires the people responsible for it to improve it and enhance it, and make it into a real user friendly system. It becomes something fantastic and it looks like he's going to be really succesful. He hires dozens of companies to write software using this new user interface.
Then one of the companies he had hired for making the software backs out, and refuses to release its software unless he licences the enhancements he made to the user interface to the other company.
I think it has promise.
I thought of that first!
H
When VCR's are outlawed, only outlaws will have VCR's.
HTML link for "finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film"
sorry to respond to my own post
but yeah, I really hate pdf for tiny stuff like this
--
Fairfax Underground: Fairfax County, VA public message board
Just contact the kids that did that movie.
Everyone has bought a porn tape that was just too disgusting to watch. Or you know someone with a box full of hermaphrodite and scheisse-pron.
How about we steam the labels off all of those and mail em to Microsoft?
.sig: Now legally binding!
Just because that one in-house guy says he knows Photoshop, doesn't mean he knows good taste.
FIRED!
You're going to have to go back a little further than that. On the order of millions of years. Chimpanzees even have notions of fair play that are best respected should one wish to avoid a mauling. Giving unfairly to a wolf in the sight of other wolves may well get it attacked and killed. They're at war with something buried deep with in us, the most vicious, stealthy, killing machine 3.5 billion years of a massively parallel experiment could produce.
Their talents for abstract reasoning aren't able to see over the piles of money. Which if they had any cleverness left would be going into up-armoring their Humvees.
Its funny because all the school kids will just log on to Kazaa right after this lesson...
Seriously you can't brainwash 14-17 year olds its too late by then, at this age they are already burning CDR's, smoking behind the wall and trying to use the colour laser to print fake ID's and £5 notes for the local off-license! Ah the good old days, when VCD's where as easy to come by as that slutty girl in your class, and everyone was discovering sharing, memories... Kids these days with their Napsters and Torrents, they have it easy!
If Microsoft seriously wants to brainwash then they're going to have to aim for the 8 year olds or lower. Do some classes where kids make macaroni and glitter pictures and then someone takes them and pretends they made them and then beats the kid to within an inch of their lives while playing Beethoven too loud, now that's brainwashing!
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
They couldnt have made the poster and logo any more Disco even if they tried!
This has to be about Software Patents? Companies patenting processes which are blindingly obvious or for which prior art exists.
I can see why this could be important to Microsoft - they are not just sinners on this one, they have also been sinned against.
Describing it as Thoughtcrime is still a bit rich though.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
John Cleese and Aardman productions to produce film for Microsoft's Thought Theives competition. Rumour has it the film shows clay versions of Microsoft Software Developers talking about what it would be like to code free software.
Tony Blair announces that 1000 teenage thought criminals have been rounded up for thought crimes. They will be re-educated at the Ministry of Love and given a chance to repent for their crimes through death.
In further other news, Bill Gates has announced that Linux is unexist. Purge all memory of "Linux" from your brains now to prevent being labelled a thought criminal!
Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
All I can say is wow. Considering MS is the biggest stealer of ideas in history, the multiple levels of irony in this article make that Alanis Morissette song (or more precisely the fact that the song isn't ironic at all) pale in comparison. This can't be real. Would Microsoft be this dumb? Nah, I don't believe it. Good hoax though...
"Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
"Microsoft ruft alle BRITISCHEN kinder vom 14-17 an, um seine Gedankendiebkonkurrenz einzutragen.
;)
Erinnern Sie sich an Zicklein, finalists muß damit einverstanden SEIN, alle Rechte am geistigen Eigentum in ihrem Film auf den Bezeichnungen formal zu genehmigen, die für Microsoft annehmbar sind.
Und vergessen Sie nicht, Ihr freies Gedankendiebplakat zu runter-laden! Microsoft in errichness 2005 JAWHOL",
Sounds alot scaryer
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
MOD STORY +5 Ironic.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
The school yard is Microsoft's patch. They have been dealing their product to minors in an attempt to get them hooked for life for some time now. They won the last turf war and things have been settled for a while now, but there are some new kids on the block and Microdick is going for the hit.
This is going to get ugly.
That could be a hilarious entry. An abridged version of El Mariachi where instead of a guitar player it's a programmer who has his job outsourced to India, his Sourceforge project stolen by his former employers unscrupulous lawyers, and decides to go Falling Down to the corporate headquarters where his CEO, and BROTHER has some exposition before John Woo breaks out.
Use Microsoft logo font with a similar name, and print up stuff for the faux office for a new product caled Panes at Kinkos.
The scary thing here isn't Microsoft doesn't want children to steal thoughts
The scary thing here is Microsoft thinks they own children's thoughts
Microsoft for stealing the kids' thoughts by having them give up their intellectual property to Microsoft.
---------
There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
This is the M.O. of slimy corporations and politicians everywhere--they are basically lying to people through their gross simplification of complex issues (see 'pirates are bad'), misuse of language (this competition), and outright lying (too many examples to mention).
What's next? 'Find the hidden pirate treasure on your parent's computer? '
Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else? What would you do?
Just ask a few of the companies Microsoft have ripped off over the years.
Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
Ok, can someone explain to me how "kids" are suppose to make a "film" on IP rights with legally purchased software? As a small-time film maker, I can attest to the fact that creative software is EX-FUCKING-PENSIVE (not to mention, most enteries will probably be made on a Mac). It's all a little counter-productive to me.
, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film ... to Microsoft
Now, what do you call that ?
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
Of course we'll never see the work of that clever kid that makes a film about making a film for a competition called 'Thought Theives' whereby the competition holder runs off with the creator's IP and adds it to their marketing portfolio, all rights reserved.
This made me think about the childrens thought police games and later real life actions:
...
"A handsome, tough-looking boy of nine had popped up from behind the table and was menacing him with a toy automatic pistol, while his small sister, about two years younger, made the same gesture with a fragment of wood. Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, grey shirts, and red neckerchiefs which were the uniform of the Spies. Winston raised his hands above his head, but with an uneasy feeling, so vicious was the boy's demeanour, that it was not altogether a game.
'You're a traitor!' yelled the boy. 'You're a thought- criminal! You're a Eurasian spy! I'll shoot you, I'll vaporize you, I'll send you to the salt mines!'
Suddenly they were both leaping round him, shouting 'Traitor!' and 'Thought-criminal!' the little girl imitating her brother in every movement. It was somehow slightly frightening, like the gambolling of tiger cubs which will soon grow up into man-eaters. There was a sort of calculating ferocity in the boy's eye, a quite evident desire to hit or kick Winston and a consciousness of being very nearly big enough to do so. It was a good job it was not a real pistol he was holding, Winston thought."
"With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking, the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brother -- it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which The Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak -- 'child hero' was the phrase generally used -- had overheard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police."
It's good that I don't have children..
all over : we're smack in the middle of that bloody movie ...
Can someone cue the hero that saves the day please ?
The developers, although seething with anger, are dignified and respect the rule of law, so rather than resorting to vigilante actions such as DOSing thei suspect's web site, they call Lawrence Lessig who takes the closed-source guys to court and gets them prosecuted for copyright infringement and extracts a large quantity of money from them at the same time, which goes to the developers and the FSF.
Stick Men
Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else? What would you do?
Well, that's not difficult to determine for a computer scientist: all major computer companies pass off the hard work of other people as their own. Microsoft keeps doing it, and so do Apple and Sun. Of course, such acts of intellectual dishonesty and plagiarism do not automatically amount to a crime, as the term "thought thieves" erroneously suggest.
I think the idea of stealing and then trying to convince others not to steal it from you is original Bill Gates' idea, stolen from him by talented followers.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
I bet the person who suggested this was a disgruntled employee with a malicious sense of irony and a very low opinion of how well read his managers are. Kudos to him for getting Microsoft to quote Orwell!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
No one creates anything in a vacuum. All that we have results from the labor of all the greats throughout history. IP law effectively steals their work and gives it to one company to exploit.
Now that microsoft has stolen nearly everything, they want to legitimize their theft by spreading this propoganda.
To all these people who are saying that people between the age of 14 and 17 wouldn't understand the legalities are wrong. I had been working with a group of 4 other college students (all 17) and we are in the process of patenting an electromagnetic door lock we've designed. This is because a lot of companies have expressed their interest in buying our design and we have to make sure our design is safe before we can present it to the companies otherwise we'll be losing out on lots of money
that's my entry
Very cute.
SEO Firefox Extension
Just how much did they pay for Dos again?
down memory lane, I knew I had some good Ideas for this, so thoose £2000 would be like stealing candy from a kid (no pun) and what did I find? nothing all my thougths had been stolen.
so now my hope is on you guys, if you happend to have any ideas about this theft, please give them to me, and later I'll browse through all submissions and claim thoose that where originally mine. the rest won't be returned though I first thought about returning them, but that was stolen too.
So I'm a 15-year-old Briton. How do I go about making a winning film then showing up Microsoft completely at the screening? Email me with suggestions.
I take this as Microsoft's first phase of an manufactured "grass roots campaign." They are offering a chance to win a $2000.00 prize and a free trip to London to people who send them a films of regular people saying how despicable it is to build on other people's ideas. Warping the public mind set into a favorable environment for a future patent lawsuit campaign against Open Source maybe?
We need real films that haven't been paid for that tells the truth.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Speaking as a 14-year-old, Microsoft have not only gone off the deep end, but have made the deep end deeper. It's just a shame almost everybody else in my year thinks MS can do no wrong, and wouldn't know Tux if he bit them on the nose.
http://unelite.freelinuxhost.com - Rock/Scissors/Paper and RPGs shouldn't mix.
The license agreement in the article says that competitors must license all their IP rights and also "waive all moral rights".
My understanding of this last phrase is that they give up their right under UK law to be named as the author of the film. So Microsoft could pass off the film as their own production, without mentioning the real author.
Of course it's not theft if you sign your rights away voluntarily.
Someone should set up an alternative contest to make a film about why sharing ideas is a good thing. Even if this turns out to be a hoax, this positive competition would be cool anyway.
:) If someone is willing to do the org work, I'd be happy to put up the £2000 (donations might increase that sum and/or reduce my share). The project would need a good website and would need to have the same deadline as the MSFT competition (July 1st). Ideally the effort should tie in with the Creative Commons group UK and possibly Software Freedom Day.
£2000 is not that much, we can match that
OK, I've opened my big mouth now. Anyone else?
I keep a Jew in the room over.
in fact he pays half the rent.
so where's my free Windows XP copy eh?
This is even richer than when the MS Front Page license including a clause forbidding the use of Front Page to make web pages critical of Microsoft.
Ah!
So that's why all the anti-Microsoft sites seem to display correctly in Firefox.
Linux/Open Source/Anti Microsoft News
...how about the history of microsoft? Too bad "The Pirates of Silicon Valley" was several years early; they would have won :)
In Pol Pot's Cambodia where between two and three million people were slaughtered by one of the most fanatical communist regimes this planet has ever seen, children were told to report on their parents.
Someone should send this to the press. They'll have field day with this.
From Microsoft's poster:
"So how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else?"
Gee, I don't know, maybe you could ask the guys who wrote the BSD stack?
Is this a fake MS site?
You mean it's REAL?
Bwahahahahahahahah!!!
Now we know Microsoft's problem! Somebody up there is on CRACK! Maybe everybody!
Next, Gates will heading up the "Just Say No!" campaign with Pat Nixon!
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Simply make a film about an evil company that creates an OS add-in called "Doublespace", stealing the idea from a company that used to produce a product called "Stacker".
And maybe then, Microsoft may learn the meaning of the word "Irony".
But then again, this is Microsoft.
And have the people working for the evil company speak in 1984's "Newspeak" for an interesting effect, but that would assume a literacy level that's probably not ubiquitous.
After all, most people don't get the joke regarding the name of the publisher of 2600 magazine. Oy.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
But is the Nazi parallel really that strong? To my knowledge, Microsoft hasn't been exterminating people.
I think Godwin had something to say about this... um, oh nevermind.
Microsoft are the biggest thought thieves... ask Steve Jobs. I like how the posters says: So how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else? How the nerve!
...because I'm sure I'm not the first person to "think" that this is the most ridiculous marketing rubish Microsoft has pushed this week.
I wonder who's got the prior art on stupid ideas; perhaps they should sue Microsoft.
From the website:
Thought Thieves is about people stealing and profiting from your creation or innovation. Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else? What would you do?
ALSO from the website:
I will formally licence, on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights
in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do
so.
I mean.....WTF!
Infinite time means everything that can happen, will. You being you is absolutely incidental. You do not exist.
I don't think anyone would like to steal my thoughts. I would like to get rid of them myself...
Actually I trhink we're in the middle of Brazil, not 1984, what, with all the nonsense about terrorists. But, 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. However, to correct you, there was *NO* hero to come in and save the day in 1984 (or Brazil), in the end of both, the protagonist loses.
I'm sure you're thinking of Harry Tuttle from Brazil, but, that was a dream sequence.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
All Your Thoughts Belong To Us.
1 Long Downhill Rd.
Redmond, USA
"An economic review of the patent system", Machlup's study for the U.S. Congress in 1958, dug up this little gem from the UK (footnote 111 at p. 22):
q.e.d.Then how could the use of the words "Thought Thieves" and "stealing the ideas in your head" be anything else but an appalling attempt of indoctrination with blurred concepts of "IP"?
N.B. "mere" thoughts and ideas, neither expressed (copyright) nor reduced to practice (patents)...
I do not agree that copyright or patents are immoral per se, it is rather a problem of what e.g. the DMCA and the EU Directives on copyright and patents (try to) make of them...
If you listen closely you can her Emperor Nero singing.
Oh, I don't know. Get a few entries in the competition in the style of "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" set in the thrilling world of warez d00dz and every 14-17 year old and his dog will want to be a thought criminal too!
You won't win your 2000 quid, but you'll still have your artistic expression and quite possibly your self respect.
Are they starting to use /brainwashing/ tactics now?
In short, I think patents are highly inefficient in this case, and you just have to use that for now because of the broken law.
"Once I was a boy, full of thoughts and ideas on how to make the life better for everybody...
But then, they came. They tore me off my happy childhood, my life. They've assimilated my thoughts and ideas...
And now we are Borg.
Resistance is futile.
You will be assimilated."
Somebody with a Borg costume - record it! Of course, it will not pass through the Microsoft's selection, but they might just get a hint.
Oh, almost forgot the obligatory: "This thought is free for anybody to use" (just so that they wouldn't be able to accuse you of the thoughts' theft).
"The five finalists may be required to become involved in further publicity or advertising."
REQUIRED??!!
Or what? "We'll beat your ass, boy, and send you to Guantanamo!"
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Save this poster everyone. Save it on your desktop. Print it out and hang it in your office.
In fifteen years you will find it in your attic, dust it off, and remember with amusement...
How stupid microsoft is.
Was.
Nope, Godwin only affects people who quote without knowledge of Godwin. The "Yes, I said Nazi and I meant it" suggests that the poster was fully aware of the implications. In this case, Godwin's codicil applies, so that despite noobs trying to bring up Godwin, the end-stop effect is ignored and the debate can continue.
Laugh and mock all you want, but remember that the only thing giving the GPL and other open-source licenses any credibility at all is Copyright law.
Microsoft and Open Source advocates are on the same side on this issue.
Assuming it's not a hoax -- the originating website IS msn.co.uk, and the date is NOT April 1st -- it looks as if Redmond has allowed msn.co.uk too much autonomy to carry out independent PR and marketing campaigns. There is just no way that corporate PR would have greenlighted such an overt piece of manipulative propaganda, especially considering the numerous ironies. They should have taken it back to the drawing board and "thought" of a better theme.
This could be indicative of a more serious organizational problem. Perhaps MS is straining under its own weight? Yet another crack appears in the Microsoft coat of armor.
A film about Microsoft's treatment of DR-DOS and Stacker would be exactly on point for the theme of this "Thought Thieves" competition.
Do you think it would have a chance?
Yes (me too), that's what jumped at me as well.
What can be said in their defense is that at least they had the decency to put the two paragraphs on different documents, even if each document is a maximum 2 pages long. So considering the MS lawyers were performing "constrained writing" (I mean hey, they're trying to bind minors into a legal contract, so they have to keep it simple), they achieved a maximum of educational value in a very small package.
To wit: I predict that the winner and the two runners-up will regret having signed the contract, and will thus learn a valuable lession. The lession is: if you made the movie for money, then you have just been screwed over, because you signed away your money-making rights. If you made your movie for art, then you have just been screwed over, because you signed away your distribution rights. And, especially in the latter case, you would have been leaps better off with an OSS / creative commons sort of thing.
And that, I call a very valuable lession.
/Thank you Microsoft! May I have another one, please?! *tHwAcK*
yes, we have no bananas
There is another aspect of this particular "bounty hunting" campaigne that is fascinating, disturbing, and possibly original. Namely, it is deliberately rewarding and encouraging people to MISUNDERSTAND the law about copyright, patent, and "ideas."
Would such bounties be acceptable if they encouraged other kinds of legal misunderstandings? For example, many people may erroneously believe "it is legal for me to download anything that appears on the Internet." Imagine if some large company provided similar bounties for films like this:
"Stop Illegal Harassment! Illegal harassment is when some person or company threatens you to stop doing something, even when you are doing nothing wrong. It sounds like science fiction, but it happens all the time. Some people and companies are contacting individuals who download things on the Internet and threatening them. How would you feel if your brother gave you a copy of the book he just finished reading -- and the publisher came and threatened you for 'stealing' the book? What would you do? We want to know."
Yes, the example above glides easily between different issues and concepts. But so does the Microsoft announcement, as it talks about "stealing thoughts" one moment -- and then asks how you would feel if people stole the *results* of thought, work, and effort.
In either case, it is frightening that it is so easy to start the equivalent of a vigilante campaigne that plays on -- and encourages -- people's confusion about the law. Even more frightening is that such campaignes may be perfectly legal.
That's sad... but at the same time I know the feeling. My father, who is less computer literate than most farm animals, has mentioned on occasion how he wished all systems ran Windows. That way he wouldn't have to learn any more than the one system (which, by the way, he will never get the hang of at this rate).
It also makes me wonder... what has your year (class? grade?) concentrated their studies in? I'm betting it's not computer science, and they probably regard their beige boxes as little more than odd little curiosities that they're forced to use occasionally.
And what's your reading list like? I'm betting it doesn't include 1984...
You have to understand, I'm trying to get a handle on what and how your class is thinking. That makes it easier (possible, even) to form counterarguments. Which is exactly what's needed here instead of mere anti-Microsoft rhetoric.
...though I admit, the anti-Microsoft rhetoric is fun too.
You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert until you read it in the original Klingon.
I sent them (m$) a feedback, what and how I think of their "thought thieves" campaign.
M$ft ethics are identical to the ethics of a heroine dealer at a school yard: providing dope for free until they are hooked and then cash in.
Now they start to 'educate' our children. And we allow them?
A small group of freedom-loving youth come together to write a very helpful free software program that helps people around the world solve some problem they have, and then an evil corporate entity comes along with an overbroad software patent, files a lawsuit and takes ownership of the program as damages. I wonder how they would deal with such a film ;-)
a few of the movies submitted, from different parts of england, will have almost exactly the same plot?
- First Light - a national lottery fnded body.
- Film Education
and complain in the strongest possible terms about their association with this initative, possibly going so far as to mention that you will contact your MP/National Lottery Funding council with your concerns. If they get enough of these email hopefully they will switch their support to other more worthy projects.Zicklein == kid
see dict.cc
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Oh wait....shit....they're serious?
MS Rep: Hey kids, what do you need to stop thought theives? Thats right! Thought police!
Kids: Yay!
The Junior Anti-Thoughtcrime League or maybe just Thinkpoljugend? How about BSA (Bill's SturmAbteilung) Jugend?
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
A farm truck pulls up outside of your kid's school, chock full of football size pods, and school administrators hand them out to the little children. Then, they walk them into the gymnasium, where they are told to lie down with their pod for a nap.
when they wake up, they're obedient, EULA-ized little drones, and in the podding process, have divulged their little grade school p2p supernodes.
Microsoft ruft alle britischen Kinder im Alter von 14 bis 17 Jahren auf, an dem Wettbewerb "Gedankendiebe" teilzunehmen. Und vergesst nicht, Kinder: Die Finalisten müssen sich einverstanden erklären, alle Rechte am geistigen Eigentum des Films zu lizenzieren - zu von Microsoft akzeptierten Bedingungen. Und vergesst nicht, Euch euer kostenloses Gedankendiebe-Poster runterzuladen!
The year the holocaust was invented.
You're right that Apple got their inspiration from Xerox, but Apple at least acknowledged it.
They licensed it from Xerox.
Did MS License it from Xerox?
Hmmm. Thought not.
If a futile effort of Microsoft's part.
It leads to cebreral pralysis.
Its is not sustainable.
It is not implementable.
It is not workable.
The entire civilization, the species, possibly all life, is based on sharing.
The "commons" form of intellectual sharing merely asks that you acknowledge the sources of your knowledge. That is called being a knowledgable and erudite human being.
Microsofts' form of 'pay for use' of an idea IMMEDIATLY put at any one who is not as 'rich' as a Bill Gates at a disadvatage.
Not only are they incapable of 'paying the tithe' but, due to the transfer of intellectual property outside its natural boundaries, they may end up not even knowing who to pay it to.
I would imagine that the 'concept' of "gravity" as a force of nature is copyrightable. I would also imagine that the concept that "The Earth Sucks" is also copyrightable.
That means that I would stand to make some money every time something tipped over.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to collect, am I still owed?
Of course the ability to use speech is owed to the original speakers but since they we'ren't as smart as Microsoft, they aren't going to collect a single dollar from the idea.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
"finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film "
for 2000 pounds 'valuation' in video gear?
come on M$, this is akin to signing a new band to a lifetime contract for a flat fee per 'acceptable' piece of music.
A great lesson for the kiddies!
Everybody knows thats the solution.
Thought Thieves is about people stealing and profiting from your creation or innovation. Think about it: how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else? What would you do?
Why, if for example, someone stole my idea for a graphical OS interface and.....oh. Umm, well, if someone decided to use a programming language I wrote called "java" and change it without permission in their OS, I would...erm. Oh, I know, I'll take out a patent for surfing the web with a keyboard even after everyone has been doing that for so many yea....uhm.
Ah yes, Microsoft. A shining example to everyone about corporate ethics and responsible citizenship.
Bloody hell Microsoft, my thoughts are now your property?
Look, there are somethings I take for granted in life. Love, air, speech and I'll take on Microsoft if its wants to go around saying that "thoughts" are intellectial property.
IP is a complete mess. If they ever get around to building a starship to get to the stars, they would have to settle probably about 16,000 patent claims to even build it.
The thought police, they live inside of my head.
The thought police, they come to me in my bed.
The thought police, they're coming to arrest me, oh no.
You know that talk is cheap, and those rumors ain't nice.
And when I fall asleep I don't think I'll survive the night, the night.
'cause they're waiting for me.
They're looking for me.
Ev'ry single night they're driving me insane.
Those men inside my brain.
The thought police, they live inside of my head.
(live inside of my head.)
The thought police, they come to me in my bed.
(come to me in my bed.)
The thought police, they're coming to arrest me, oh no.
Well, I can't tell lies, 'cause they're listening to me.
And when I fall asleep, bet they're spying on me tonight, tonight.
'cause they're waiting for me.
They're looking for me.
Ev'ry single night they're driving me insane.
Those men inside my brain.
I try to sleep, they're wide awake, they won't leave me alone.
They don't get paid to take vacations, or let me alone.
They spy on me, I try to hide, they won't let me alone.
They persecute me, they're the judge and jury all in one.
'cause they're waiting for me.
They're looking for me.
Ev'ry single night they're driving me insane.
Those men inside my brain.
The thought police, they live inside of my head.
The thought police, they come to me in my bed.
The thought police, they're coming to arrest me.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Just buy the product, and leave the thinking to us!
I think I'll just rummage thru your wallet and see what I've got here...
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Shame on you, Microsoft! Shame on you!
[Yes, that was joke]
This is much like the MS aids conundrum. Should MS support generic drugs in the fight against aids? I do not know their position on this issue, but it would be interesting to hear. They are really stepping up to the plate on AIDS, but if the money ends up being just funnelled to multi-national pharmaceutical interests, that would not save nearly as many people, and has the potential for a PR backlash. On the other hand, if they endorse the production of knock-offs in the developing world, aren't they undermining their whole anti-piracy thrust? I do not envy them the choice.
Thought Thieves. I had to do a google search and verify that one across 4 different articles.
The generally accepted rule is, when you make references to Big Brother, you don't refer to yourself.
You, like, compare other people to Big Brother...
I wouldn't push for such laws, rather I view them as a compromise. I don't think trademarks are nearly as intrusive as copyrights. (Though there are directions I don't like.)
My problem is that in the copyright debate, when plagiarism comes up, there is no moral high ground. I can't say 'it's ok' so I need to provide a solution.
Abolish Copyright. Restore Freedom.
Because the idea was lifted from 1984!
Big brother is watching you....
choose wisely...
What ever happened to "Going gently into that long goodnight"?
The Press should be more restricted except when it comes to running "J Lo" stories?
What is IMPORTANT? To WHOM? Who wants the government to approve every story?
What about stories like Nixon's impeachment?
What about stories like FDR's polio?
What about stories like Napoleon's death at St. Helena's.
What about stories like Pol Pot's agricultural reforms.
What about stories like Stalin's policies on the West?
What about stories like Stalin's policies on the East.
What about stories like Stalin's policies on Siberia
What about stories like Stalin's policies on Gulags.
What about stories like Stalin's policies on the military before WWII and AFTER.
The government is NOT the arbitrer we want to use since they would bury (in some cases literally) wnat they are ashamed of.
The government is not in the business of censoring your thoughts. Actually, they (I know I know, the mythical 'they',) are not even interested in censoring your thought.
They just want to make sure you don't ACT on it, or if you do that you'll be caught by the consequences.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I, for one, welcome our new thought master.
)9TSS
Microsoft....Double Plus Good!!!
Linux....Double Plus UnGood!!!
Yeah couldn't resist...
--- I was far from home, and the spell of the Eastern sea was upon me. -Lovecraft-
http://www.kevingoebel.com/library/sindfrei.html
When we grew up and went to school, there were certain teachers
:)
who would hurt the children anyway they could
by pouring their derision upon anything we did
(...)
We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Seriously though, I remember my classmates at 14-17. Piracy (arr, matey) is something like the 253rd thing to bug them about.
Oh and of course here's the duly presented copyright notice - the lyrics are copyright Pink Floyd - The wall
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Distribution of source code is required under the GPL. If copyright were obliterated
Then it would be lawful to make and distribute commented decompilations of proprietary computer programs.
http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
Other than various companyies which are taking GPL code and incorporating it into their proprietary work in violation of the GPL, who is doing this?
I mean, if someone "pirates" Windows or other proprietary software, they arent exactly passing it off as 'their own work'. Likewise with music and movies. No one who is copying and sharing either is pretenting that *they* wrote, produced, directed, sang, or had anything else to do with the creation of the works in question, or even 'profiting' from it, since most 'file sharers' arent trying to sell the copies, just give them away. Granted, there *are* 'professional' pirates that do sell 'counterfeit' copies of things, but you arent going to educate them, they dont care. And most people don't encounter them unless they are specifically looking, and know where to look.
I think this is a subtle bit of misdirection on MS' part, to get more kids to think that copying software or entertainment is worse than it really is.
The simple fact is that making copies of information and/or distributing it is almost cost-free in this modern world of ours, and businesses built on it being hard and/or expensive just no longer make sense. Heck, witness VOIP, which is disrupting the concept that transmitting speech at great distance is a costly and difficult problem that is worth paying 20? 15? 5? none? cents a minute for. I understand the 911 issues, but to be honest, I think the best solution there would be for the FCC or Congress to mandate that local incumbent telco's provide an 'emergency call only' phone service, at no more than the cost of providing it (Im thinking something like $5/mo) And yes, slowly the telco's would be less and less telco's, and more and more 'emergency call only' providers. (They could also branch out into providing their own VOIP service too, of course, but they'd have to compete fairly for business there, without advantage of a pre-existing monopoly)
This is sad. Those poor kids. Of course 2000 pounds is a decent bit of cash. If they discuss the fact that the kids signed over their rights when they present the prize... never happen. Oh the irony.
TANSTAAFL GIGO Acronyms to live by!
From the "Thought Thieves" poster:
So how would you feel if you saw your hard work being passed off as the property of someone else?
I don't know. Let's ask:
Stac Electronics
Burst.com
Sendo
(there are a host of others, google for it)
Microsoft is hardly the "poster-boy" for IP rights, eh?
... is of course "how to better get away with stealing the works of others".
Its widely accepted by those in the know that young people are more daring and creative and as such old Bill Gates is of course looking for solutions regarding intellectual property and software patents.
Its a dual edge sword, they want both to know how to better get away with the works of others while also wanting to better know how to protect what they have stolen, from other taking it back.
They are looking for excuses to continue their criminal activity...
AND WE ALL KNOW THAT!!
There is NO indication MS is ever going to change their criminal anti-competitive behavor.
That is a wiorth while thing to keep in mind with anything MS does..... including this...
How can we ever compare common thievery with institutional thievery? Abuse of power? Please.
Anyway, I used to be the kind of person who hated SW piracy to death (to name some "evil thievery" thing) - until i met REALLY poor people. And this was in 92, Linux was simply out of the radar. I realized that sometimes the law was evil.
People grow, kids stop being naive. When they mature, they'll realize not everything's black and white.
This reminds me of an old Woody Allen line.
It went something like: "I was kicked out of college for cheating on a metaphysics exam. I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."
Zoom into neighboorhood xyz in America.
There's a kid riding his bike down the street.
A second kid runs up and clothsline the first kid off the bike.
When the first kid is crying and trying to get back up. The second kid plants his foot on the first kid's chest and pushes him back down.
When the first kid ask the second kid why he is doing it, the second kid will reply,"I patented the act of balancing on top of a two wheeled mode of transportation, and you didn't pay me my royalties for using my invention."
The second kid then proceeds to call the cops. Once the cops arrive on scene, the second kid beats the first kid up some more and proceeds to rob him, all the while the cops are just nodding their heads.
Sounds like an Oscar to me. I'm sure this'll fall into one of the thousand new catagories they'll put this year.
Where's the obligatory 1984 references? If ever there were more explicit a case to make jokes about it, here's one.
Why can't they make their EULA's as simple and as clear as the terms of the contest?
Who doesn't like free music?
And here's the proof, from Microsoft.
Not Jewish holocaust, but certainly they've been involved in software product companies holocaust big time. (Symantec C++? Borland Office Suite? etc, etc...)
That is absolutely ridiculous, even for slashdot standards.
You are seriously comparing one of the most horrific events of the 20th century, the slaughter and torture of millions of men, women, and children, to the "death" of a god damn office suite?
Don't you think that this trivializes the real holocaust just a bit?
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
...oh, wait a minute...
So now it is going to be battled in courts.
Plaintif: "You stole my thought!!!"
Defendant: "No I didn't, I had the thought first."
Plaintif: "Prove it."
Defendant: "No, you prove it."
Plaintif: "No, you."
Defendant: "No, you."
Judge: "OK, children. Stop that. It's time for Ice Cream."
...because he is using the mass lying techniques to which Dr. Goebbels has a copyright.
Well...read the site. They're asking kids to express hwo they would feel if someone literally took their ideas and plagarized them. Simple, to the point, I think we can all accept that as a bad thing. I'd honestly like to see somebody defend an author that blatantly plagarizes someone else's work.
Now keep in mind that OSS is in no way plagarism. If you edit something, you still credit the original authors. Microsoft might be looking to take a jab at Free Software as a whole, but their language very clearly doesn't. The OSS community should actually be in agreement on this issue. Uncredited use of someone else's work is bad.
Of course, that doesn't mean it isn't ironic as all hell. Chuckles are in great evidence over here.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
keeps people from stealing my thoughts.
Actually I think that a lot of the current music crisis was sparked in the schools.
No seriously it happened before you can even remember.
Some child psychologist circa 1975 said they should STRESS sharing in kindergarten, we got programs where children were told to share toys and got less toys than kids, teachers stressed that lending toys when you weren't playing with them was good behavior and praised us for it.
Microsoft's initiative is indeed attacking the source, they're just too late.
Their next initiative: don't lend billy your toy truck when you're not using it and he'll buy it from you for big $ thus making god happy!
I just added "Thought Thieves" to Wikipedia. Add what you will to it!
screen captures of me playing Xbill?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft
Is this fucking Irony Day or something? How do people come up with these things without realising how utterly TRANSPARENT thier hypocrisy is? I mean, for fuck's sake, please!
Shouldn't that be Heil Gates?
Angelina Jolie spouting the EULA during the love sceen at the end maybe?
Another great idea from the people who gave you "Microsoft Bob" and that gay paperclip.
"Microsoft starts a competition "MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves" . Hundreds of kids spend creative effort and time to make up plots to market microsoft's intellectual property ideas and to develop them into finished movie clips. 1 of those kid wins 2000 pounds worth of audio- and video equipment. A dozen or more of them became finalists and signed the rights to their hard work away and didn't get anything in return. The other hundreds still have, for free, provided microsoft marketing with plentiful of ideas to further their own business' cause.* Stop those thought thieves!" This plot is hereby released into the public domain. Feel encouraged to use it if you like. * Wich cause includes working together with the big phonographic industry labels and mpaa, to lobby politicians to ever more skew copyright and other intellectual law away from the original idea of maximum public benefit towards maximum control and profit for the established big entertainment industry corporations. The extension of the duration of copyright is an example of this. It took mental wealth away from the general public which won't be able to freely use and distribute old works which their creators have long been paid for. Software Patents, which are monopoly rights on mathematic and logic and often trivial, are even worse in that they can block the independent creation and distribution of intellectual wealth. One reason microsoft is still reluctant to use them against OSS is, that doing so would likely destroy any chance that might still exist of getting them legislated into the EU.
This gave me some good ideas for parody submissions. Either a hugely exaggerated sarcastic one -- where this future IPless world is a barren wasteland where "thought theft" has degenerated into actual theft, and nobody has any reservation about stealing, so everyone locks themselves into their homes just for defense -- or a Microsoft-mocking portrayal of a future IPless world as a glorious utopia of free thought and sharing of ideas for collective technological progress.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the video-making skills to do either of these, but anyone's welcome to steal these thoughts.
Signature.
Just in!
Microsoft steals font used in Thought Thieves poster from the 80's. Cast and crew from hit show "Miami Vice" were unavailable for comment.
The more I think about it, the more I remember one of those thought thiefs, they stole blatantly from Apple, from Stac, from Spyglass, from the Corba Consortium, SGI and even from Sun IBM and others, one of their victims also was the Visicalc programmer. And now they are stealing from the general public, by price fixing and patenting prior art left and right
No they did not steal it in their own words, they called it embrace and extend. I just wished I would remember the name of this company, it used to be run by a guy with glasses and now by a fat one constantly screaming developers.
Dear Microsoft, you are right, Thought Thiefs must be stopped, even George Orwell knew that in his book 1984, if you want to follow the good and honest lead of Big Brother, please track down this evil company and tear it apart.
Sincerely your 17 year old kid
I guess we definitely need a new Bill-image for these issues. The current image combined with this Thought Police stance of MS, is a blatant insult towards the Borg.
;/
Instead, we should consider this one
And later in the story the children do indeed shop their father...
no happy endings here
It looks like Microsoft is now trying to be the thuoght police. An underhanded move from an underhanded company.
Jesus, what imbecile approved this campaign? The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this was, "Thought Thieves? I wonder who polices them. Must be the THOUGHT POLICE." Microsoft really doesn't need to encourage this type of association.
How so? The criminal was caught, comrad.
Of course, enough Alices and Bobs deciding they will share freely, and having the tools to do it, will bring M$ down. Just a question of how long until it happens.
You highlight the beauty of copyright: The author gets to choose the license, so the BSD authors are presumably quite content.
If they hadn't wanted that to happen, they would have chosen the GPL or a license that forbids such use. (And if the GPL didn't exist, they would be forced to invent it.)
you had me at #!
OK I think I'm gonna puke.
I think that Microsofts solution it to require their employees to wear these foil lined hats. http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html The only problem I see is that while it does shield the employees thoughts it also shuts out Microsoft mind control. Its a real dilemma
Here's some good stuff for someone's movie entry for this contest: http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/gui.html Bill Gates also decided the GUI was the way to go during this time. After seeing that Apple refused to license the Mac OS, he announced Windows in 1983, and how it would revolutionize the PC industry. The first version of Windows would not be released for 4 more years. During the development of Windows, Bill Gates feared Apple would sue him due to the fact that his OS was looking a lot like the Mac OS. So on November 22, 1983, John Sculley, then CEO of Apple, signed an agreement to allow Microsoft use Mac OS technology in exchange for further development of Microsoft software for the Mac. This single event would be one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the microcomputing industry. Windows 1.01 was finally released for use with IBM computers and compatible clones on August 11, 1987. Its arcane interface, built on the cryptic MS-DOS operating system, was almost unusable. With its unsightly tiled windows and lack of icons, it was a large disappointment. Even so, Jobs began to complain about how Microsoft had stolen the Mac OS's interface design to which Bill Gates replied in the March 14, 1989 edition of MacWEEK: "Hey, Steve, just because you broke into Xerox's house before I did and took the TV doesn't mean I can't go in later and take the stereo"
...will no doubt bless this move by one of their own.
But Officer, I DID read the f**king article!
Who knows maybe the center of thought isn't the mind. Many people think that most men use other body parts to think. So here's a way to supplement tin foil lined hats. http://www.lessemf.com/personal.html
Maybe they'll finally pass the Mutant Registration Act, and jail freaks like Professor Xavier!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
...are those who claim the right to "own" thoughts.
Why hasn't Bill Gates been assasinated yet?
I'm not anti-microsoft. I'm anti-bullshit. Which means I'm anti-microsoft.
Somebody should encourage submissions illustrating just how the main premise of the competition:
A) That art and ideas sprout independently and have no reliance on any one else's previous work;
B) That ideas can and should be owned by someone just like physical property;
is totally bogus.
Or maybe start a competition to see which side can make the most compelling case.
Every time I hear of something like this, I immediately think of communism. Having lived under it, I know all too well how people were encouraged to spy on each other and turn their neighbors in. So a big fuck you to Microsoft is in order. American corporations are out of control.
What will you do if the people you knew
Were the plastic that melted,
And the chromium too?
Who are the brain police?
--Frank Zappa
Great. They gave up on using their propoganda on adults. So now they want to start a micrsoft-youth.
Sounds like a problem only fixed by 13 year old linux advocates.
13 year old linux users UNITE!
"Suzy, this Windows thing is so cool! Microsoft is the best." "I agree, because you think its cool I think its cool too because of your, and peer pressures, influence on me!"
Luckily 13 year old linux advocates were there!
"No. Windows is crapy. Take a FREE Knoppix CD!"
If con is the opposite of pro. Then isn't congress the opposite of progress?
Thought Thieves
Microsoft is sponsoring a Thought Thieves competition for short films on the theme of "How intellectual property theft affects both individuals and society'."
Finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft.
"Thought thief" is also a reference to the book 1984 and the Orwellian notion of thought police "stolen" by Microsoft from Orwell for this richly ironic competition.
In George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labelling unapproved thoughts with the term thoughtcrime or, in Newspeak, "crimethink".
Microsoft as a "thought theif"
* Apple Computer accused Microsoft of stealing QuickTime code and using it in Windows Media Player.
* Burst.com claims that Microsoft stole Burst's patented technology for delivering high speed streaming sound and video content on the internet.
* Sendo accused Microsoft of terminating their partnership so it could steal Sendo's technology to use in Windows Smartphone 2002.
* Spyglass licensed its browser to Microsoft in return for a percentage of each sale; Microsoft turned the browser into Internet Explorer and bundled it with Windows; Spyglass sued for deception.
* Stac Electronics accused Microsoft of stealing its data compression code and using it in MS-DOS 6.
* Sun Microsystems held Microsoft in violation of contract for including a modified version of Java in Microsoft Windows; Microsoft responded by abandoning Jav
The form is in PDF format, I would have thought they would have posted it in Word or Excel. Maybe deep down, they think PDF is more ubiquitous.
Why not give Microsoft exactly what they are asking for?
A little movie about a small company that comes out with some cool new technology, and wants to give it out for free because they feel it will better mankind. A few months after its out it is quite popular in its niche and they are doing well from their ideas, they get a letter from a big company "Letigisoft" saying they infringed on a software patent of theirs. Our heros don't have much money for a legal defense, so they scramble. They know they can't keep their product functional and remove the infringing bit, they can't charge license fees, or afford legal costs. Plus, the patent claims being made are obviously very questionable, but they don't have the legal resources to prove that. Any attempt to go about against "Letigisoft" burries them in paperwork, and onerous disclosure requests that expose all their company's ideas to Letigisoft. So they end up with no choice but the close up shop. A year later "Letigisoft" develops a similar product and charges a lot for it.
So do something like that with nice production values so the judges will have to watch it. Let it develop slowly, so at first you might not realize that its such a David getting crushed by Goliath sort of thing. Make them all confortable by giving them exactly what they want.
Big companies who want all this IP fascism have to realize that they need to be careful what they ask for, because it works both ways, and they just might get what they want.
So the participants simply have to create a small creative work without using, "stealing", any ideas which may have already been used by a previous member of humanity or corporation. That's not too hard is it ?
According to TFA here: http://www.msn.co.uk/thoughtthieves/creating/ "The theme of your film should be about how intellectual property theft affects both individuals and society. Think about it: what would a world look like without protection for intellectual property?" (emphasis mine) So why not make a positive film showing how free information exchange could improve everyone around the globes' access to vital information? :)
Perfecting the art of insanity since 1982
This article shows pretty damned blatantly what MS is trying to do, but it's funny that it's not blatant enough for someone to sit up and say "Microsoft is trying to manipulate people" because they will be labelled as a tinfoil hat wearer or someone, (paid or ignorant), will turn around and say "They're trying to educate them, can't you see?" Isn't it ridiculous that unless Microsoft says it themselves, nobody can make this accusation and have their point of view considered by as many people that consider the garbage coming from Microsoft?
Really, is this a joke? They can't be serious, come on, who doesn't see the Orwellian/stalinist smell of this?
"Thought thieves" is such an open-ended expression that it just calls for abuse. Like "murkans" calling anyone they don't like "commie" or "terrorist".
I don't like M$, like virtually anyone who remembers Billg's calling hackers thieves and all around '75 (after 30 years, it *can* be fuzzy and I'm too lazy to get up and go through my old issues of BYTE magazine anyway), but even I can't believe they said that.
AC
And then...
So... they want to give all of the kids a chance to experience it themselves?
from what I understand that quote by Newton was also a dig at Robert Hooke, who was really short. It was in a letter to him, and they apparently had some ... differences.
||:|::
I think you are quite right. I don't use Windoze enough to be aware whether they're in compliance or not. Breaking the law would be wholly consistent and expected behaviour from our favourite monopolist.
you had me at #!
Far from encouraging young people to obey the law, this campaign is likely to give some such a distorted view of the law that they'll become little neurotics, fearful that anything they do is a crime. And that's perhaps Microsoft's purpose. Microsoft, we should never forget, is a software company run as if it were a major law firm. (Gate's dad ran a large law firm.) That means it operates by bullying, lying and intimidating. It has a vested interest in giving young people distorted and fear-inducing beliefs, so they'll do what that sort of lawyers tell them to do.
I know. In 2002, I had a Manhattan copyright lawyer claim she'd sue me in each of the fifty states. "Try that," I thought to myself, "and you'll have fifty federal court judges very mad at you." (Feel free think the same thought. You're not stealing from me.) She filed where she had to file, in Seattle federal court, and less than a year later had her arrogant but weak lawsuit dismissed "with prejudice." I wasn't one of the little neurotics Microsoft intends to create with this "Thought Thieves" campaign. I understood fair use.
In short, if you want to understand Microsoft, think of it as software company run as if it were a major law firm--amoral, greedy, and trafficking in fear and uncertainity.
--Mike Perry, Intangling Tolkien
I guess they decided to honor their long heritage dating back to the time when they invented BASIC.
-------- In Soviet Russia, "Soviet Russia" sigs hate Slashdot.
Should I be selected as a finalist in this competition, I confirm the following:
... sigh.
7. I will formally licence, on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do so. I understand that if I do not complete the necessary documentation by the stated date, my entry will be disqualified from the competition.
Hahahahahahah!
From a post I am meta-moderating:
As of 4/26/05 I enter the world of a non-smoker. Wish me luck and a lot of support.
How is your effort going?
I've been off the butts for just over two years (Feb 1st, 2003).
Good luck.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
phrase and calling it your own.
I'm not sure why MS would
be railing against
plagarism. Is someone
taking Windows or
Office and selling
it as their own creation?
My campus had those posters too, but some wag went around putting up posters for StarOffice right above them. Hi-larious.
Microsoft views the computer industry the same way that Scientology views religion...fertile fields to be exploited for lots of money. Using kids as tools in their unrelenting campaign to patent every software idea ever conceived is reprehensible. The real thieves work at Microsoft. They are stealing the time of everyone who has to workaround the obstacles to progress that Microsoft is continuously erecting. There has never been more powerful hardware in the hands of people everywhere than there is now and yet almost is nothing can be done with it...thanks to Microsoft and their obstructionist tactics which prevent innovation.
This is insanely Orwellian bullcrap.
"Remeber kids keep an eye out for Thought Crime, Big Brother is always watching and you should too!!!"
From the contract:
Should I be selected as a finalist in this competition, I confirm the following:
7. I will formally licence, on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights
in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do
so. I understand that if I do not complete the necessary documentation by the stated
date, my entry will be disqualified from the competition.
Hm, "thought thieves" indeed. I guess IP theft is only acceptable when Microsoft does it. Agreeing to these terms essentially means they could sue you for publishing your own work on your website.
Oh, they use the word "license" instead of "give", but they also say "agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do
so". Microsoft? Evil? Nahhh.
-R
When I was in high school (5 years ago or so), I took sociology.
For a project we had to conduct a survey of 100 people.
My particular survey consisted of a page with symbols on them, with a space below for writing what they stood for.
Amongst others, included was the star of david, a pentagram, and a swastika.
There was a frightening amount of people who associated the star of david with satan, or the devil.
However, every single person associated the swastika with hitler or nazis.
Admittedly, it wasn't the most scientific test, and it was conducted in texas.
Draw your own conclusions.
Redundant I know but I just can't stop laughing.
Yes and no. Yes - they thrive by implementing ideas from other companies. No - because it's not stealing. The whole "intellectual property" (and now "thought thieves") crap is language bastardized to make you believe that thoughts can be owned just like material property.
Of course it's not stealing. It's Thoughtcrime. Get with the program.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
This has been a lifelong battle for Bill Gates. His war with the "free"software community and their bad attitude towards his stuff goes all the way back to his beginnings. His first or one of his first products was a BASIC interpreter. At the time there was a "free" interpreter called Tiny Basic and when Gates started selling his BASIC people started sharing their copies of his BASIC as though it deserved the same treatment as Tiny Basic. Bill got on the stump and accused a lot of people of being thieves. The "free" software community is a lifetime recurring lifetime nightmare for him. Can you picture him screaming in his sleep when IBM first announced support for Linux.
I would be posting something original, but after reading through the postings, I can see that you are all in some kind of conspiracy to steal my ideas and post them before I can.
For just about the same reasons!
When I click on "view source", it's obfuscated in the typical javascript way, but the header refers to
http%3a%2f%2fuk.my.msn.com
But, of course, that's just the hex for
http://uk.my.msn.com/
To me, it looks legit, so far. Somebody has a sense of humor.
Thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Hello, thought police. Al Bester speaking
Hi, I'd like to report a thought crime.
A theft? What are the details?
MicroSoft Corp has stolen the idea of using youth to spy on others from George Orwell.
Well, I don't think we can prosecute MicroSoft. Besides, Orwell stole that thought from Balder von Shirach. The best we could do is charge them as an accessory.
Oh. Well thank you.
Thank you. We now know you're a closet anti-Gatesian and have added you to our list. Clik
...how Stacker, Intuit, and Digital Research feel about this?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
There have got to be some clever animators, etc. in here. I will host torrents of our entries (which I don't imagine would get much airtime in the "official" competition) at Artists for File Sharing, if someone can coach me on how to do it right (it's presently using blogTorrent, and not working very well from what I see).
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
because there is always the factor that only a certain percentage of people are sheep.
...but the point is to make most well-trained sheep, and the rest too intimidated to take action. And those who are neither sheep nor intimidated, are either incapacitated by the government or an angry mob.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
How many "thoughts" and "ideas" and patented technology has MS stolen?
Fucking hypocrites.
If that isn't loaded language then I don't know what is. How is violating intellectual copyright all of a sudden tantamount to theft? If I remember correctly the definition of theft includes not only the obtainment of but the withholdment of property as well.
Okay, what if we created an "open source" movie. Instead of producing an entire video, people could submit ideas, screenplays, scenes, or do editing to add special effects or voice-overs, under an "open source" license. The final product could be cleaned up, turned into a DVD, and submitted to the MS contest. This would show the benefits of collaboration in making the movie itself.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
Its compatibilty with 3rd party applications won them the office suite market.
;)
You also have to give them points for creativity on that one.
They might not have invented vendor lock in, but they've more or less perfected it.
...that's the final straw. Now Microsoft is trying to whore out our kids for their own sick needs. I mean DAMN, can they fucking sink any LOWER?
From the agreement, which is meant to be signed by the children themselves (ages 14-17):
I will formally licence, on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights
in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do
so. I understand that if I do not complete the necessary documentation by the stated
date, my entry will be disqualified from the competition.
Is this what they hire the "best" thinkers for, so they can outsmart and take advantage of innocent children? For God's sake, Bill, money isn't everything, but the children really *are* the future, and you're going to start them out in life with a memory of being raped by your fucking greedy corporation?
CHILDREN: DON'T TAKE THE CANDY--YOU WILL BE RAPED IN THE END AND THROWN IN A DITCH.
RISE UP PEOPLE. BOYCOTT MICROSOFT.
MSN Ripped the Ubuntu Logo
Does anybody else have examples of MS blatantly stealing and profiting from somebody else's creation or innovation? What are the other examples of MS passing off other people's hard work as the property of their own?
History, for example, can be a very controversial subject. Yet they teach the US version of history to kids as 100% true facts. This is not happening just in the US - everybody brainwashes children this way.
The Raven
Advertising to children is child rape.
This is worse. This is the rape and misuse of children's minds to the worst degree.
"The child is the father of the man"
These kids will grow up one day.
I thought that was just some fabricated quote, and it would've been a pretty humorous one if it was, but to find out that IT IS A REAL QUOTE just blows my mind. Bill Gates has a way with words... a way that is similar to... hell, I can't even think of anything that is so bumblingly foot munching.
do you think a film would have in this contest were the topic to be incorporation of GPL-licensed code into a closed-source commercial product? Or even the incorporation of BSD-licensed code into a commercial product after stripping out the author's copyright notice.
Hmmmm..
The borg are beginning to assemble en masse. Must be something rather large looming in the winds...
Might be getting ready for a major strike to mankind as we know it...
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
http://www.spymac.com/gallery/show_photo.php?picid =178380
..."
Renmond. start your photocopiers!
"Who's in charge of microsoft anyway,oh....
Someone should do a documentary on how Microsoft stole Apple's source code for Quicktime and incorporated it into their own "Video for Windows" and then bullied Apple into accepting a very one sided deal to drop the lawsuit.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
If this isn't science fiction, then why is it that somebody recites an idea of mine, but I still have the idea?
Because it is not even science fiction, it is branwashing propaganda and horseshit to boot. Anybody who believes this is very dense, IMO
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
Microsoft stealing IP from school children?
... but I think the more appropriate response is:
...
I wish I were shocked
Move along now. Nothing to see here.
-S
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
Wouldn't that be a thought crime?
Oh well. They want DVD's, eh?
I bet you could illustrate thought theft really well by taking a small segment of someone else's work - say, a really horrendous gay scat porn film, or perhaps Goatse: The Movie, putting it on a DVD and sending it to them*.
Hey, here's the address if anyone fancies it:
Microsoft Thought Thieves Competition
Thames Valley Park
Reading
Berkshire RG6 1WG
Please make sure your DVD/CD is clearly labelled with your name, address and phone number.
Remember, your entry needs to reach us by or on the closing date - Friday 1st July 2005.
(*Note: I am not condoning this type of behaviour. Much.)
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
Same thing IBM did - countersue.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
then i should be able to think and patent a lot of ways of (patent software, stop copying, etc) and SUE the RIAA/MICROSOFT/etc when they try tou use them? by example, i can create a p2p program, and patent all the posible ways to stop it, so noone can do wrong to me WAJAJAJAJA..... IS EVIL.... WAJAJAJAJA... p.s. DONT steal and patent this idea!
(snippet from Thought Thieves site)(snippet from Thought Thieves terms and conditions) Uh?
So basicly, everyone understanding that won't send in anything..
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Oh yeah, because when I think of role models for intellectual property, I'm fuckin thinkin Microsoft... Give me a break
So Mr. Gates what are your thoughts on this subject?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Let's not forget that there were Free Speech Zones outside the Democratic National Convention, and that the D-crats are just the other side of the same coin. Unless people start busting heads and overthrow the entire system, things won't get better. Thankfully, Bush has managed to piss enough people off in his first four years that I'm confident he has the kind of arrogance and disregard necessary to inspire a bloody coup. See you on the flipside. I'll be sitting tight here in Canada.
When life gives you lemons, you CLONE those lemons, and make SUPER-LEMONS. -- Dr. Cinnamon Scudworth, Ph.D
Wouldn't it be great if the winner said that they had to a Mac with iMovie to make their film because they couldn't get the job done with Windows.
What I find "really interesting" is the "partner list".
Among them is "firstlight" (i.e. the british film concil) wich is a UK lottery funded organisation helping kids to make movies.
If you have 20% matching funding you might get 80% of up to 4000£ (provided your are an uk teen, etc...) This being cash for a "project".
So here comes microsoft and offers 2000£ of "film and video equipment" IF you are one of the five winner! with them as partner.
So most probably they "waved 2000£" in front of this organisation saying that they will save the industry.
Got the matching 8000£ of funding
"sold" this so some equipment and film vendor (no sense of "really" loosing 2000£)
And now are probably congratulating themselves on how philantropic they are.
see http://www.firstlightmovies.com/fundingpage.php
Can someone tell me what original idea M$ ever came up with?
MS-DOS? - No
SQL-Server? - No
GUI OS? - No
Word Processors? - No
Email? - No
Browsers? - No
Compression, encryption, multimedia? - No, no, no
Maybe MS Access. Can't think of another desktop dbms. Of course access is for boneheads so thats an idea I wish they had kept to themselves.
"There is a tradition in many groups that..."
So because something is a tradition, that means it is True? Give your head a shake! Just because there is a tendency for on-line (and off-line, in my experience) discussion to gravitate towards name-calling does not make every occurance of Nazi references a symbolic defeat for intellectual rigor.
Whether or not the MS poster/campaign is *provably* similar to the techniques used by Nazi German propagandists is really beside the point when considering the validity of this so-called "Law". What is important it to have the ability to discern for yourself when a comparison to Nazis/-ism is accurate.
That is, unless, you feel that no comparisons to Nazis can or should ever be made in a discussion. I for one am not so timid or blind as to find modern parallels to Nazi ideology and practice are impossible to find. In fact, I think they are becoming more common as time goes by.
Simply because an observation is correct 90% of the time does not magically make it a Law. I would hope Slashdot readers would be a little more strict in their use of language.
To end this comment, I would like to quote the founder of Fascism:
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Fascist Dictator of Italy
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
This is the point where I think Microsoft has gone beyond stupid. First there was the book on leet-speak, now this.
"...the annals of great PR history!"...
I understand the meaning of the sentance that you wrote, and I believe that what I read is what you intended to write. I nonetheless submit for your consideration the thought that, given the context of "PR", you may have used too many instances of the letter "n".
"Plagiarize!"-
"Let no one elses work evade your eyes!"
"Remember why the good Lord made your eyes-"
"So don't shade your eyes-"
"but Plagiarize! Plagiarize! Plagiarize!"
"-only be sure always to call it, please, "
" 'Research'!....."
-Tom Lehrer
-"Lobachevsly"
"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive
property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an
individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but
the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one,
and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.
Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because
every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me,
receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his
taper at mine, receives light without darkening me... Inventions then
cannot, in nature, be a subject of property.
(Thomas Jefferson)
seems to me, that people are rightly concerned that producers
of digital content (writings, music, video, apps, data) are
adequately compensated for their efforts. They should be compensated,
and to achieve this end, an analogue was made -- we will sell you a number
(any digital file is just a big number consisting of ones and zeroes) -- and
to protect the 'uniqueness' of that number, we will treat that number
as if it weren't really a number, but an actually physically tangible good.
but there's one problem with this. If i have an apple and give you an
apple, I no longer have an apple. But if i have an idea and give you an
idea, then we both have the idea. These inherent properties of matter and
bits are ignored for the sake of the analogy, and here lies the crux of
problem at the heart of the intellectual property debate.
bits will always tend to be compied.
If you pick one lock, you open a million doors.
Imposing the artificial scarcity of matter onto the
inherently copyable world of bits is absurd -- this fracture
will always seep through. What we must ask, is if there is another
solution which also compensates artists than the current form
of copyright allows?
originally copyright was designed to balance two aspects.
one was the rights of society at large, and the other was
to give an advantage 'for a limited time' to encourage innovation.
it would be wise to return to such a balanced approach,
instead of extending copyright hold on cultural artifacts
into perpetuity.
over and above the cost it takes to sustain the livelihood
of a programmer, the muliplied surplass can be shared for the
benefit of society -- this is the basis of open source, and
has long been the hallmark of institutions of scientific learning.
sharing of knowledge helps everyone who knows it, without
diminishing the value one keeps for oneself.
When thoughts are outlawed, only outlaws will think.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
that is all...
Will Microsoft soon be in the business of patenting thoughts? If so, I've got first bids on patenting thoughts of attractive naked women. You all will owe me big!
:-]
This a sure sign of decline: M$ is really starting to go insane. Wish the public had the right to initiate legal procedure to verify if a corporation has gone insane to the extent of imposing danger to people and humanity.
M$ has reached the clinical stage.
Ok. Let's make some lemonade from lemons. This seems like a great opportunity to make fun of some corporate entities. Someone should make a movie making fun of some of these ridiculous overly broad software patents.
Okay, here is an other script for M$...
Mike, a programmer guy at M$ invents the idea of the World Wide Web.
He sends it to Bill Gates. Can you imagine Bill?
You can browse and find information all over the world. It has the greatest impact after the guy, who figured out how to make fire - and it would be from Microsoft.
Bill says... sunds great, but how much are we going to charge for it? It's perfect for businesses, they can pay a small fortune for this...
It would be actually free... And it would be available not only for rich corporations, but for kids, teenagers, single mothers, seniors and people on social assistance, even in the poorest countries around the world.
Bill looks at the inventor of the WWW and wonders if Mike is insane.
Mike, I am worried about you, you sound like a Communist, terrorist, liberalist daydreamer... but anyway... let's continue... Okay, the world wide web would be available for anyone to access... but at least we should have a control then that who can put information on this world wide web... I am thinking of some expensive software solution for the Fortune 500 market...
No, Bill, no... you don't get it...
It's not just the free access... It would have a simple language to put information on the World Wide Web, so that anybody could do it. To make it very easy to spread, the application - I call it the web browser - would even have a View source button, so that eveybody could see how the page was done.
Bill Gates looks at Mike, the inventor of the World Wide Web and shakes his head. I am sorry Mike... You really need help... Don't worry, we will pay for your psychiatric treatment... Just remember, all your ideas belong to Microsoft. Remember the non-disclosure agreement you signed when we hired you? Security, please...
Mike, the inventor of the World Wide Web is taken away.
Bill Gates calls their lawyers and technology chief.
Guys, I have this other revolutionary idea. We could enable our best clients, the Fortune 500 corporations around the world to share all their information over one, world wide network... something like a web. Like a world wide web. We will call it the MSN network. We will even allow the public to join it for a monthly subscription fee.
The audience is speechless. Finally the technology chief whispers: "Bill, you are the most influental thinker... you are a genious.."
The PR director continues... I have to make a few phone call... Bill you have inspired me to work on this idea: you could be the first man to receive two Nobel Prices. One for your technical genious and the Nobel Price for Piece.
Bill turns to the lawyers: Prepare all the patents so that noone could ever make this or remotly similar technology available for free. I want this locked down tight. No mistakes here, no loopholes whatsoever. We will have to start to lobby the Congress to extend certain revolutionary patents for maybe at least hundred years...
Understood?!
****
Well, sorry kids, if you were dreaming about that great sounding opportunity to create and sell some day to Microsoft your thief movie idea.
Since Bill Gates has managed to kill - I mean patent and licence - the idea of the free World Wide Web - he doesn't have to worry about how to influence you.
Get back to your math homework, kids.
Just_Another_Random_Idea by Random.Nick
Do these people instruct their kids to keep their toys to themselves? Do they instruct their kids to not tell any playmates their ideas?
Where does it begin? At five year-olds? Perhaps 8? Perhaps we''l just start at teenagers and work our way down?
Primarily, intellectual property was always intended to get ideas into the wider community, and out of the minds of those who have the ideas. In a sense, it is about theft: it's about protecting society from the selfish or paranoid hoarding and squandering of invention. Since every new idea, no matter who it comes from, is essentially just the next step in the ideas previously known to a society, no one really owns them anyway.
You would be surprised at how many high school lit courses use "1984".
What are you talking about?
MS took the Windows GUI from Apple / Xerox Parc.
MS took Doublespace from Stacker.
MS took Word from Wordperfect.
MS took Excel from Lotus 1-2-3.
MS took Internet Explorer from Mosaic.
Without free access to innovation, Microsoft would NEVER have become the dominating behemoth it is today. It would be squashed squarely by IBM, which could have litigated the company into non-existence (together with all the PC-clone manufacturers).
But now that they are huge themselves, they want to smash everyone else around them and conquer the world.
The shocker is that sharing thoughts and ideas, is the very foundation of a free and progressing society.
This should make you outraged!! There's should be riots in the streets and boycotting of certain products.
can KISS. MY. ASS. wtf? Going after TV torrents eh? A. That is trash. B. WTF? Ok, I don't see people paying for individual shows... You pay for the channel.. then. you get to watch whatever is on that channel. HOw the hell do they justify this new action without sounding like pricks?
Thought theives, it just reminded me of 1984, we are reading it right now in english. Just seemes a lil BB like to me.
hello
We want to know!
Send us your short film on GPL violations by 1st July 2005 for your chance to win £2,000 worth of film and video equipment vouchers. And finalists will be invited to attend a special screening of their films and presentation ceremony in London.
What is the shortest sig that cannot be expressed in fewer than 20 words?
How about just interviewing folks in the corporations from whome MS has been convicted of stealing IP from?
No need to 'think about it' much, just ask those who know!
We don't borrow, we don't rent, we don't steal, we don't lease, we TAKE the mind!
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Well, at first I read it as thoughtcrime... "I wil formally licence, on terms acceptable to Microsoft, all intellectual property rights in my film and agree to waive all moral rights in relation to my film if requested to do so." Who, Microsoft? Nice. Wonder WHAT terms are acceptable for this famous thought thief. That thingie is called hypocrisy.
What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
this is the worst thing i've seen in a very long time.
To quote the frontpage (pun intended) of MSN UK competetion:
And when clicking on the "About TT partners one is presented with short blurbs about the "Film Education" org and a U.K. Film Councils "First Light" initiative for youth. And then at the bottom of the page is:
So M$ has funded a film contest about stealing thoughts and ideas... Anyone see anything hypocritical in this stance or is it just me? I also find it a bit sneaky (for lack of a better word) to see M$ U.K. using the films created in a "anti-piracy" campaign made by the very target aucience they want to "persuade". English youths make an anit-piracy/IP-theft film for English youth - but in a "not" so transparent manner.
To quote the catch phrase for me is the line:
Well, if your an M$ competitor (or former "partner") you'ld sue - many many have already and the list is growing. If anyone knows about stealing ideas and IP isn't it M$? Oh, I'm sorry, the preferred method is to cripple the company and then roll in with a low ball hostile bid. The only time they "steal" anything is if they think they won't get caught or it's too expensive.
And this comes in the midst of a big (and often dubious) patent filing blitz. I can't help but wonder if M$ thought that they could patent the alphabet they would - then we would all be paying and M$ tax, unless you wrote in cyrillic or a character based language.
I don't know - I just find the whole thing somewhat insulting. Not to mention how it somehow makes me think that those at the M$ U.K. office must think their citizens to be just short of out and out idiots. And what does that say of the U.K. educational groups behind this?
So when does the list of "approved" thoughts come out - I don't what to be labelled a theif!
There's a nice German song:
Die Gedanken sind frei.
Keiner kann sie erraten.
Sie fliegen vorbei
wie nächtliche Schatten.
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen,
kein Jäger erschießen.
Es bleibet dabei:
Die Gedanken sind frei.
(The thoughts are free.
Nobody can guess them.
They fly past you
like nightly shadows.
Nobody can know them,
no hunter can shoot them.
It's gonna stay this way:
the thoughts are free.)
To most people this is obvious, and the freedom of thought as the only freedom that can't be taken from you and can't be controlled is a recurring theme in literature as well (think 1984; even though Orwell coined the term "Though Police").
Ridiculous what MS is trying to pull here...
I wonder if this Microsoft 'initiative' is connected with the now official Microsoft bashing taking place
in the UK education organisation BECTA: http://www.tes.co.uk/2094985
On y va, qui mal y pense!