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EU Says No To Software Patents
Moggie68 writes "European parliament has . struck down the proposal for a directive that would have brought US-style software patents into EU." Here's another story on the decision.
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While I see a lot of congradulatory comments, I seem to recall a news story about the WTO and copyrights. Is one of the requirements for WTO acceptance that you enforce copyright law of the host country? If so, this would seem meaningless as most of the EU is part of the WTO. (Anyone know for sure?)
As most copyright holders (or enforcers) would have an office in the US, would it not make sense for them to just offically copyright it in the US and then seek WTO enforcement?
It would appear that the World Bank, WTO, and similar "organizations" are the problem we are going to face in the next few decades. They operate as "organizations" and thus can set any "regulations" they desire, regardless of what the countries actually vote on.
Well, just the other day there was a debate about whether or not coding was an art or a science.
Also, you missed the GPs point. The point was that computers do FAR MORE than just solve equations. Things like drawing pictures with Gimp, designing webpages, coding, word processing, gaming, high performance computing, etc. By your logic, everything derived from math is ONLY mathematical and should not be patented. The functionality of an airplane is derived from the laws of physics, which are actualized in math, and are used by engineers to create solutions to real world problems and thus overcome gravity (or at least play nice with it). But you wouldn't agree with the statement that airplanes are simply math equations, would you? I hope not, since I'm getting on one tomorrow...
Moving on...
You said, "...everything that has been done or can be done with software is performable by a purely mental process"
To quote you: "This is possibly the most idiotic statement I have ever read."
Honestly, think about this. I have an OS running a GUI with slashdot open, my email client open, UD agent running, I'm VNCed into my linux box, along with a ppc test box, and I'm on Sametime with co-workers. I'd like to see you perform that with a purely mental process. Go on, just type out the math that got me from a blank screen to the situation I just described. What? You can't?! Hmm... that's funny. It's alomst as if someone had to design something... ahh, nevermind.
The hypocrisy of the open software communitiy knows no bounds. Every day you bitch about how Microsoft steals ideas. Then you turn around and want to make this legal! Unbelievable.
The only reason why the open software community is against patents is that no innovation has ever come from it. All it does is copy what has already been done.
Linux? Right! Nice innovation. Been there, done that.
Mozilla? Wow, a browser! That's never been done.
The list goes on and on. Nothing new. Nothing inovative.