I read that topic as "Microsoft [invents] Patent Frustration Detection System". I expected to see an article about how Microsoft was backing off patent enforcement based on how frustrated the public appeared to be over what they were doing. A neural net that scanned news articles and tailored the cease and desist letters? Focus groups that give them insight into their public image? Developers? Developers? Intriguing!
Then I awoke from the dream.
If anyone could use any frequency without having to check to make sure it wasn't already in use, you'd quickly run into some communications and quality issues. To prove this, take 1000 people, give them radios that can select between five frequencies, and have them try to have 500 private conversations.
So the FCC exists in order to regulate the airwaves, ensuring that you don't get interference. Someone has to pay for the staffing and operation of the FCC, so they came up with the idea that if you want to use some part of the spectrum exclusively for your prodcut you have to pay the government to do so. In theory, this means you are leasing that spectrum from "the American people", as represented by the government, and some of that money then pays for the FCC. Technically, you are charging Verizon/Google/whoever for your airwaves through the government. Convoluted to be sure, but it fulfills its primary purpose - to avoid constant interference - and generates revenue from a national resource - air. You might argue that there are better ways to divy up the spectrum (maybe without the massive fees), but no matter what method you choose, you still need some regulation.
Hell, if you buy one of those Motorola radios that can use the GMRS frequencies, you are supposed to pay a $75 licensing fee to do so, again under the basic logic above. I doubt anyone actually does, and since they only have 1 watt of transmission power it's usually not an issue in terms of interference, but they're not paying rent. Bastards!;P
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I read that topic as "Microsoft [invents] Patent Frustration Detection System". I expected to see an article about how Microsoft was backing off patent enforcement based on how frustrated the public appeared to be over what they were doing. A neural net that scanned news articles and tailored the cease and desist letters? Focus groups that give them insight into their public image? Developers? Developers? Intriguing! Then I awoke from the dream.
If anyone could use any frequency without having to check to make sure it wasn't already in use, you'd quickly run into some communications and quality issues. To prove this, take 1000 people, give them radios that can select between five frequencies, and have them try to have 500 private conversations. So the FCC exists in order to regulate the airwaves, ensuring that you don't get interference. Someone has to pay for the staffing and operation of the FCC, so they came up with the idea that if you want to use some part of the spectrum exclusively for your prodcut you have to pay the government to do so. In theory, this means you are leasing that spectrum from "the American people", as represented by the government, and some of that money then pays for the FCC. Technically, you are charging Verizon/Google/whoever for your airwaves through the government. Convoluted to be sure, but it fulfills its primary purpose - to avoid constant interference - and generates revenue from a national resource - air. You might argue that there are better ways to divy up the spectrum (maybe without the massive fees), but no matter what method you choose, you still need some regulation. Hell, if you buy one of those Motorola radios that can use the GMRS frequencies, you are supposed to pay a $75 licensing fee to do so, again under the basic logic above. I doubt anyone actually does, and since they only have 1 watt of transmission power it's usually not an issue in terms of interference, but they're not paying rent. Bastards! ;P