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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!"
No it's not the hitler youth, it's the Thought Police Youth.
Just took 20 years longer than 1984.
Actually there's an 18 and older category as well.
Hehehe yea, ask Stack how they feel about MS's thought theft :) (for those of you who don't remember, stack they made a HD compression program which MS ripped off 100%, drove them out of business, and then eventually lost a lawsuit to). Im sure someone else could mention at least 100 other companies they've done that to.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
France prevents minors from signing ANYTHING at all. I guess most european countries work this way.
I have a feeling it's not
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
Yeah, we have something similar in the UK. It's a poster of some guy saying to his friends how much he saved on Office (it 'only' costs around 100 quid).
What really happens in a UK university is that someone with broadband downloads a torrent of it and gives copies to anyone who wants one. No student in their right mind would actually buy it - it's (still) too bloody expensive. I would imagine it's similar in the US.
Um... Do a google search. Name a newspaper or a news site - from drudge and slashdot to msnbc and indymedia and usatoday, they've all reported it this year. Not sure how you could have possibly missed that?
- students-press_x.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.
Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.
The survey of First Amendment rights was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.
Not Jewish holocaust, but certainly they've been involved in software product companies holocaust big time. (Symantec C++? Borland Office Suite? etc, etc...)
Google for that quote... true or not, there is a fairly widespread allegation that it was sarcastic, used in a letter to a bitter rival.
It's funny you should mention Newton's statement as being positive. I'm currently reading "Science: A History 1534-2001" by John Gribbin which suggests that his comment was in fact a barely disguised personal attack. It written in a letter to a scientific competitor, Robert Hooke, who had complained, correctly, that Newton was not giving him proper credit for his discoveries. Newton's response that he had seen further by "standing on the shoulders of Giants" was intended to rule out Hooke, who was famously short and hunchbacked. This is not 100% accepted history but it does seem to fit in with Newton's general demenour and behaviour.
Apparently other people said it before Newton if you want to quote someone who actually meant it.
Nothing of the sort. If you are faced with an attack by an enemy, you fight back by counter-attacking forcibly not by laying down and moaning. GPL forces people who choose to use GPL (most anti-GPL wackos seem to forget that GPL is not mandatory) to counter-act efforts by corporatists to use copyright as a restrictive device. That is, you restrict the restriction in order to negate it. In that sense, GPL does force things which go beyond "copyright-free" scenario, but they would no longer be needed should copyright be abolished.
Think a freedom fighter who picks up his opressor's gun to fight back. Should the occupying force withdraw, the violence of the gun is no longer needed and he can go back to growing rice in peace.
Apple paid to be "inspired" by the xerox GUI
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.
You know, I intended this to be read in the context of what Bill was saying about Microsoft rather than what he was saying about Apple. 'stole the TV' is a pretty strong metaphor for thought theft.
Bill Gates is pretty much admitting to 'Thought Theft' there: Microsoft wouldn't even have their flagship product line if they hadn't taken the idea of the GUI from Xerox and Apple.
I guess these days, Microsoft is Xerox, and some darn kids are nicking their TV now.
... 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...
Ummmmm...iMovie?
Dear Microsoft,
The style and typography of the Thought Thieves poster appears to have been completely copied from the typography used on the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (UK edition) books.
Surely not much of an example to set.
Regards
Kabz
-- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
Yes, protecting material products...
"Not to troll or anything, but I wonder if Stack could have used a software patent to prevent that?"
They did have a patent. IIRC though it was for their hardware dongle that increased the amount of compression in some way. Don't know if it was on the software. In either event, having a patent still doesn't help you when large companies are able to hold it up for years while you hemorage funds to the blood sucking attornies.
"Maybe there's something to this whole idea of patenting software after all. Sure, the way software patents are being used now is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean the entire concept is rotten."
No, the whole concept IS rotten. It prevents anyone from even entering a market. Eventually everyone looses including Microsoft. I'm just waiting for the great patent wars...Popcorn anyone?
B.
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
Incorrectly put --> " No it doesn't, the Godwin Point is only reached when comparing to nazis ... your oponents in a discussion."
/. you didn't even read Godwin's law nor Mike Godwin's discussion on his own law did you http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if_ pr.html/
In the tradition of
?
Here's some enlightenment:
"I developed Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
AND
"I seeded Godwin's Law in any newsgroup or topic where I saw a gratuitous Nazi reference."
Hiel Herr!
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