From what I have read, this patent is a solution to a very specific problem, one that had been plaguing MS for a long time. MS met with i4i to talk about licensing, then didn't licence it, then (as the court has determined) put the patented solution into MS Word anyway.
Quite frankly, i don't see the major point here being either prior art or whether or not software patents should exist.
The main point I see is that MS has been one of the major proponents of software patents, indeed trying to cram them down the rest of the world's throats. When the little guy develops a software patent that they need, do they play by their own rules?
Bittorrent allows independent artists/authors/programmers to distribute their works at little to no cost. This is their competition. The more people find independent works (for example, creative commons music, independent video clips, Linux distributions, etc), the more business they lose.
False threats may lead to people thinking "well I better not run Bittorrent at all, to protect myself/my organization."
Not to mention that this lets sleazy lawyers "fish" for people willing to pay them off rather than prove they did nothing wrong.
Yes, this sounds like a good way one can use this, but not a reason to have it enabled by default.
Just remove RH's key and install your own corp key then only sign tested packages. This is actually kind of cool, now you just need an easy way to make package updates mandatory like with published apps in AD.
Many of us were suspicious from the start that the Russian government was never serious about using FOSS. Rather, it was just a ploy to get MS to drop their prices. Now that MS will drop prices, FOSS is becoming "too expensive" with the trite old arguments about retraining blah blah blah. Government saves face, gets the price on MS software they wanted, and Bill/Ballmer keep their monopoly. Everyone wins, except, of course, the people who use the computers.
"the ridiculous statement was evidence of a need for controls on corporate media conglomorates to block the improper or illegal control of distribution channels to maintain a monopoly over content distribution."
No, they aren't. Maxwell's equations don't preclude magnetic monopoles or the movement of net magnetic 'charge' (aka 'current'). In fact it's always been a mystery why monopoles didn't appear to exist. There was no theoretical reason why they shouldn't,.
Yes and no. Its true that if you look at maxwells equations in the traditional form (with div and grad) the statement of no monopoles (Div B) is simply one of empirical observation: monopoles have not been seen.
However if you cast maxwells equations in differential forms it becomes intuitively obvious why there are no magnetic monopoles. electricity is a one form. Magnetism is a two form. Two forms cannot come from monopoles.
Interesting. But if they want to claim it's licenced, that's pretty much the same thing as saying you are renting/leasing it from them.
Any landlord is obligated to fix problems with a tenants building for normal wear and tear, and for the landlords screw ups.
In other words, if Sony, or any other jackass company wants to start claiming you "license" their hardware, they damn well better start paying for all maintenance, broken controllers or other replacement parts, cleanings, what have you.
Please go back and actually watch the video. They operate the mouses exactly like I am saying (with fingers continually lifted off so the sensors won't detect them).
An ergonomist taught me that one thing you do not want to do is continually hold your button clicking fingers away from the buttons. That kind of static loading on the extensor muscles is really bad. While using a mouse and are not actively clicking, you want the fingers to rest on the buttons without extensor or flexor muscles being used (preferably with an armrest supporting your entire forearm). With these touch sensitive devices you HAVE to use the extensor muscles to keep the fingers away from the device.
I wanted to find out about a HERF device, so I went to the 2003 slashdot story and followed the link there . Its gone. The domain has been bought out by some sleazy company. Following the HERF link on the page takes you to a place advertising penny stocks.
The online backlash against DRM has gotten a bit excessive, especially since the purpose of DRM is entirely admirable: to stop thieves and free riders and to help creators actually get paid for their work.
That is not its purpose.
Its purpose was never admirable.
Its purpose is to give corporations control over content beyond what the law will give them through copyright. Add on the DMCA and they can essentially do anything they want.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe "moguls" should be able to monitor your internet activity to make sure you don't embezzle any money from your charitable works?
You mean they won't be all about Wolverine anymore?
The TSA losers failed to prevent him from getting on the plane with a firecracker.
Now they are saying "well we need to treat you all like prisoners now."
You know what, the terrorists just won, with a @#$%ing firecracker.
Funny, this is the opposite reasoning as to why I started using Google over yahoo/excite/altavista.
All the other search providers started cluttering their pages up. Google was simple and clean and did what I wanted.
Bosses don't like the "endorsement" aspect? Don't worry about it.
Put up a web page saying what software you use, open source, closed source, all of it.. Don't say why you picked it.
Put links to the open source projects.
You don't give it "endorsement," but you do get the software recognized (hmm, they use a webserver named "Apache?")
It's just freedom of information at that point.
From what I have read, this patent is a solution to a very specific problem, one that had been plaguing MS for a long time. MS met with i4i to talk about licensing, then didn't licence it, then (as the court has determined) put the patented solution into MS Word anyway.
Quite frankly, i don't see the major point here being either prior art or whether or not software patents should exist.
The main point I see is that MS has been one of the major proponents of software patents, indeed trying to cram them down the rest of the world's throats. When the little guy develops a software patent that they need, do they play by their own rules?
Bittorrent allows independent artists/authors/programmers to distribute their works at little to no cost. This is their competition. The more people find independent works (for example, creative commons music, independent video clips, Linux distributions, etc), the more business they lose.
False threats may lead to people thinking "well I better not run Bittorrent at all, to protect myself/my organization."
Not to mention that this lets sleazy lawyers "fish" for people willing to pay them off rather than prove they did nothing wrong.
Film studios need the internet. The internet doesn't need film studios.
Yes, this sounds like a good way one can use this, but not a reason to have it enabled by default.
Just remove RH's key and install your own corp key then only sign tested packages. This is actually kind of cool, now you just need an easy way to make package updates mandatory like with published apps in AD.
Many of us were suspicious from the start that the Russian government was never serious about using FOSS. Rather, it was just a ploy to get MS to drop their prices. Now that MS will drop prices, FOSS is becoming "too expensive" with the trite old arguments about retraining blah blah blah. Government saves face, gets the price on MS software they wanted, and Bill/Ballmer keep their monopoly. Everyone wins, except, of course, the people who use the computers.
Of course. Someone with a little power finds someone who supports the opposing political party, voila, they can "find" a bomb.
There, fixed that for you.
Yes and no.
You had to bring Schrodinger's cat into this, didn't you?
That depends on how you look at it.
No, they aren't. Maxwell's equations don't preclude magnetic monopoles or the movement of net magnetic 'charge' (aka 'current'). In fact it's always been a mystery why monopoles didn't appear to exist. There was no theoretical reason why they shouldn't, .
Yes and no. Its true that if you look at maxwells equations in the traditional form (with div and grad) the statement of no monopoles (Div B) is simply one of empirical observation: monopoles have not been seen.
However if you cast maxwells equations in differential forms it becomes intuitively obvious why there are no magnetic monopoles. electricity is a one form. Magnetism is a two form. Two forms cannot come from monopoles.
They say people have 41% software as "pirated" and people are getting it from "auction sites."
How much you wanna bet they are counting used software as "pirated?"
Somebody previously owned that legitimate copy of Windows 2000 that you bought on ebay? Pirate!
Interesting. But if they want to claim it's licenced, that's pretty much the same thing as saying you are renting/leasing it from them.
Any landlord is obligated to fix problems with a tenants building for normal wear and tear, and for the landlords screw ups.
In other words, if Sony, or any other jackass company wants to start claiming you "license" their hardware, they damn well better start paying for all maintenance, broken controllers or other replacement parts, cleanings, what have you.
Please go back and actually watch the video. They operate the mouses exactly like I am saying (with fingers continually lifted off so the sensors won't detect them).
An ergonomist taught me that one thing you do not want to do is continually hold your button clicking fingers away from the buttons. That kind of static loading on the extensor muscles is really bad. While using a mouse and are not actively clicking, you want the fingers to rest on the buttons without extensor or flexor muscles being used (preferably with an armrest supporting your entire forearm). With these touch sensitive devices you HAVE to use the extensor muscles to keep the fingers away from the device.
I wanted to find out about a HERF device, so I went to the 2003 slashdot story and followed the link there . Its gone. The domain has been bought out by some sleazy company. Following the HERF link on the page takes you to a place advertising penny stocks.
Guess he'll have to ban the Internet... "...because it can be used to assist copyright infringement..."
That is not its purpose.
Its purpose was never admirable.
Its purpose is to give corporations control over content beyond what the law will give them through copyright. Add on the DMCA and they can essentially do anything they want.
That is insidious.
Why am I reminded of Teletubbies? And why does that scare the @#$% out of me?
It will produce a Gigawatt of power.
So where's the Crushinator?
But how intimidating is body armor that can't stop a slingshot held by a teddy bear?