No, of course I don't think that MS created the keyboard or the mouse. There ARE, however, all these MS branded keyboards and mice in the stores. I kinda, sorta thought possibly that they have their very own design that might be unique in some small way. I was never interested enough to investigate - were you?
Allow me to spell this out very carefully. I'll type really slow, just for you.
A program is not a patentable item. A program is not an item. You can't pick it up, you can't bolt something to it. You can't use an acetylene torch to cut it in half, then braze it back together. Patents are for physical inventions, a physical process, something that can be picked up and handled.
"Stop passing judgment", you say? How is that word spelled? H - Y - P - O - C - R - I - T? Yeah, that's it. You have already passed judgement, and you expect me to agree with it. No, thanks, I'll go with my own opinion, unless and until something convinces me that I'm wrong.
They obviously like the system well enough to claim that they actually hold patents. Why are they concerned about patents, when the overwhelming majority of their "property" would more properly be regulated by copyright law?
"You mean, like... abolishing the whole "intellectual property" bullshit?"
Actually, no. I really believe that patents are justified, but they are being terribly abused. Likewise with copyright. With either one, if I come up with a truly original idea, I feel that I should be permitted to make money from it, for a period of time. No competition, it's all mine. For a LIMITED period of time, of course. Certainly no longer than a decade. 5 years, 7 years, 10 years max.
And, I really believe that if patents and copyrights were regulated in such a way, people would accept them.
"Doesn't matter to me, soon I'll be rich. There's this guy over in Nigeria, he's got a bunch of money he has to get out of the country and needs my help . .."
Good luck with that dude. His widow wrote to me this morning. Looks like I'll have his money AND his woman.
How about we clean up the patent system inside the US before we push our system outside of the US?
Seriously, almost everything Microsoft has ever owned or claimed to own properly belonged under COPYRIGHT law. They may hold a small handful of valid patents - like, keyboard and mouse, maybe?
MS needs to shut up and go sit in the corner, or surrender most of their patents as an example of how things SHOULD be.
I've handled a few cell phones. Some newer, some older. Sound has generally been pretty shitty. Are phones suddenly sporting real speakers capable of decent music playback? They now have stereo? How about SurroundSound? I'd sure like to see one of those!! Why are people bothering to pay for music to be played on those crumby little speakers? Earbuds aren't any better. Few laptops have sound worthy of playing music - for that you need an add on sound card and external speakers.
This looks like much ado about nothing, IMHO Of course, gullible people tend to make much of nothing.
Hmmmm. I'd like to troubleshoot the problem. Have you searched and/or posted at any of the FF websites?
1. Most obvious, uninstall and reinstall, see if that fixes the problem 2. Disable non-essential plugin/addon 3. Create and use a different user profile 4. Test a different version (just install into another location) 5. Try using a portable version
I have to agree with the complaint about all instances of FF crashing when one runs into a problem. It's infuriating to open a tab that chokes on the Flash content, then every FF window vanishes. That is one thing that Chrome has right, at least.
Crash? The only Firefox crashes I've seen in many many months were due to testing 64 bit Flash. If FF is crashing, I have to wonder about your operating system and/or hardware, but the primary culprit is probably buggy code in addon/plugin/codec/peripheral software.
Like AC above you, you seem to assume that the actual owner of a trademark doesn't know his own goods, and/or his own supply chain. I think that if one receives such a notice, the recipient has an obligation to examine the claims, at the least. If such examination seems to have any merit, then compliance with the notice only makes sense.
If, on the other hand, the claims seem to have no validity, handing it off to a lawyer might make sense.
In the case at hand, the claims of sales of counterfeit goods proved to be true, and the site owner took no steps to protect himself against charges of complicity.
ASSuming that your claim about the "death panels" were correct - that would be worse than the present corporate death panels, HOW?
Face it, Bubba. When the insurance companies decide that you are no longer profitable, they can cut you off anytime. The only thing stopping them is PR.
Somehow, I don't think the internet is nearly so revolutionary a thing as something like the Magna Charta, or the US constitution, or even the abolition of slavery. Given some time, I might prepare a full list of the "most revolutionary things" in history. The intartubez might make it onto that list - maybe between pages 5 and 10. Hell, public education ranks higher, as screwed up as that is!
Heh. I read the bit about incorrect colors and sizes of pie slices, and laughed. I can't read a color coded chart anyway. GIVE ME A BAR GRAPH DAMMIT! Better yet, just post the numbers.;^)
I would argue that the same idiots who use rear view mirrors to apply makeup, never check the oil, and can't tell that a tire is flat will just find new ways to kill people while texting on their cellphone or playing the newest popular game on their laptop.
Has history taught us nothing? Morons who couldn't walk and chew bubblegum were handed car keys, and the result was carnage. Today, you wish to see the grandsons and granddaughters of those same morons zipping through the sky over your house?
I'm probably talking to one of those grandsons.....
From TFA, "They further said that Chen and his companies had been informed of the activity by Louis Vuitton but still refused to implement a policy for removing the offending sites, which was their responsibility." This proves the defendant and his attorneys were idiots - they had been informed that the trademark was being infringed. They can't pretend that they didn't know the products were counterfeit and illegal.
I can't see how that DMCA defense applies to trademark, or how DMCA applies to real world physical assets. The DMCA is applicable to "intellectual property" as nearly as I can tell.
People can change? Call me a cynical old sumbitch if you like, but I've seen little evidence of that in my life. Parties can change? Boy, I've got some ocean front property for YOUE! If your political parties are changing, it's probably for the worse, because they don't think they need your support any longer!! The last big change in a political party that I've seen, was when the Republican party turned into a bunch of rabid NeoConservatives - and I wasn't really smart enough to realize what was happening at the time.
I've been hearing for years how dirty the "conservative party" is in the UK. Like clockwork, they approve of yet another measure to keep the sheep under surveillance. Just like here in the states, the party makes any promise to get that vote, then stab the voter in the back once the votes are tallied.
Change. Right. We've just had an election in which the winning candidate's platform was all about change. I voted for that candidate, not because I thought he was going to change anything, but because I was sure the other candidate was likely to get more Americans killed. Sure enough, our liberal president is same-o same-o liberal. I can live with that - I knew he was full of shit during the election.
Your conservatives have changed?
You don't mind that the world doesn't hold it's fucking breath, do you? Funny that you posted as AC. Had you used your own ID, you would have been fingered as a party shill?
"So much in fact, that every possible mutation has appeared already."
Even if such a statement could be verified mathematically AND historically - we still haven't seen every possible mutation in every possible situation in which it might be spread. The world has never before seen the population density we see today. Virulant outbreaks can span the globe in a week or less. The people at CDC are concerned for a reason.
Please - continue. I'm learning all about myself. Now, I know that I am afraid of - what? my shadow? - and that I own a gun to cure my fear. Please, please, continue. I need to know more about myself.
Nutbaggers, you say? Nut. Bag. Nutbaggers. Hmmmm. If I were to play your game, I might ask why you are interested in the nutsacks of people who carry weapons - but, no, I won't even ask. Don't ask, don't tell.......
49% market share does not constitute a monopoly. It doesn't even constitute a majority. It is the single largest market share, yes. Monopoly, no.
The wikipedia may not be a legal definition, but: "Monopolies are thus characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods."
In the search engine market, those who are willing to settle for second-rate have viable alternatives. Only those of us who demand the best are held ransom by the Google monopoly.
Thank you, now I know that I'm a fascist. Problem, though. Which fascist power do I support? You might propose a group of fascist-like politicians who would like to be in power. Chances are, I might even agree that those politicians are fascists. Problem still remains - I'm not part of the neo-con movement.
And, I scoff at all the fools in the world who are afraid to own and maintain their own weapons. If/when those who DO support the fascists decide to enforce their views on everyone, what are YOU going to do about it? If the goons begin enforcing their views, free speech will be history - unless you have the raw power to enforce your own freedom.
Oh - wait. Maybe I'm wrong. When there are 3,000 fascist marching down YOUR street, you can probably dial 9-1-1 and everything will be made all better. Never mind the fact that fascists have a history of gun control laws and police states, 9-1-1 will fix everything.
Sometimes, you people almost convince me to give up my guns. In a country of 350 million, where 200 million fear firearms, what good can I do when the fascists take over? My weapons will only make me a target!
The big picture, is all. The issue is not just harvesting a field, as evidenced from my first post. The issue is caring for the plant, throughout it's life, as well as the soil, and all the rest of the environment that the plant is grown in.
Perhaps you didn't read and comprehend Drinkypoo's post? It's pretty clear that he sees more advantage to micro and/or nanobots than just harvesting without tractors.
Ideally, there wouldn't even be beanfields, cornfields, etc. All of these crops would be grown in the SAME field, along with marigolds and other flowers that attract beneficial insects.
Actually, there is precious little biomass in our agricultural fields today. Tilling has destroyed it. Go out into any cornfield, wheatfield, whatever. Dig down into the soil, and come up with a handfull of stuff. Examine it with your naked eye, and you'll find - dirt. That's it, just dirt.
Go into a field that has lain fallow for a few years. Dig down, grab a handful and examine it. Worms, bugs, grubs, decaying vegetable matter - life. You don't require a microscope or special instruments to see the difference between the sterile dirt in a cornfield, and the living soil in a fallow field. If you choose to put the stuff under a microscope, the difference only becomes more obvious.
The fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides used in monoculture fields is deadly to more than those forms of life we intend to control.
Macro machinery may be adaptable to no-till practices, but they aren't going to solve the monoculture environments we have today. As long as monoculture is the rule, the use of chemicals will continue, which negates much of the benefit of no-till.
Obviously, I don't view monoculture and no-till as seperate issues at all.
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No, of course I don't think that MS created the keyboard or the mouse. There ARE, however, all these MS branded keyboards and mice in the stores. I kinda, sorta thought possibly that they have their very own design that might be unique in some small way. I was never interested enough to investigate - were you?
Allow me to spell this out very carefully. I'll type really slow, just for you.
A program is not a patentable item. A program is not an item. You can't pick it up, you can't bolt something to it. You can't use an acetylene torch to cut it in half, then braze it back together. Patents are for physical inventions, a physical process, something that can be picked up and handled.
"Stop passing judgment", you say? How is that word spelled? H - Y - P - O - C - R - I - T? Yeah, that's it. You have already passed judgement, and you expect me to agree with it. No, thanks, I'll go with my own opinion, unless and until something convinces me that I'm wrong.
They obviously like the system well enough to claim that they actually hold patents. Why are they concerned about patents, when the overwhelming majority of their "property" would more properly be regulated by copyright law?
"You mean, like... abolishing the whole "intellectual property" bullshit?"
Actually, no. I really believe that patents are justified, but they are being terribly abused. Likewise with copyright. With either one, if I come up with a truly original idea, I feel that I should be permitted to make money from it, for a period of time. No competition, it's all mine. For a LIMITED period of time, of course. Certainly no longer than a decade. 5 years, 7 years, 10 years max.
And, I really believe that if patents and copyrights were regulated in such a way, people would accept them.
My two cents, anyway.
"Doesn't matter to me, soon I'll be rich. There's this guy over in Nigeria, he's got a bunch of money he has to get out of the country and needs my help . . ."
Good luck with that dude. His widow wrote to me this morning. Looks like I'll have his money AND his woman.
How about we clean up the patent system inside the US before we push our system outside of the US?
Seriously, almost everything Microsoft has ever owned or claimed to own properly belonged under COPYRIGHT law. They may hold a small handful of valid patents - like, keyboard and mouse, maybe?
MS needs to shut up and go sit in the corner, or surrender most of their patents as an example of how things SHOULD be.
I've handled a few cell phones. Some newer, some older. Sound has generally been pretty shitty. Are phones suddenly sporting real speakers capable of decent music playback? They now have stereo? How about SurroundSound? I'd sure like to see one of those!! Why are people bothering to pay for music to be played on those crumby little speakers? Earbuds aren't any better. Few laptops have sound worthy of playing music - for that you need an add on sound card and external speakers.
This looks like much ado about nothing, IMHO Of course, gullible people tend to make much of nothing.
Hmmmm. I'd like to troubleshoot the problem. Have you searched and/or posted at any of the FF websites?
1. Most obvious, uninstall and reinstall, see if that fixes the problem
2. Disable non-essential plugin/addon
3. Create and use a different user profile
4. Test a different version (just install into another location)
5. Try using a portable version
I have to agree with the complaint about all instances of FF crashing when one runs into a problem. It's infuriating to open a tab that chokes on the Flash content, then every FF window vanishes. That is one thing that Chrome has right, at least.
"Windows usability standards"
You were shooting for the newest oxymoron? Ohhhh-kay.
Crash? The only Firefox crashes I've seen in many many months were due to testing 64 bit Flash. If FF is crashing, I have to wonder about your operating system and/or hardware, but the primary culprit is probably buggy code in addon/plugin/codec/peripheral software.
Google doesn't offer much on "policy suit". I added the term "insurance", and fared little better. Maybe I need a more obscure term?
Like AC above you, you seem to assume that the actual owner of a trademark doesn't know his own goods, and/or his own supply chain. I think that if one receives such a notice, the recipient has an obligation to examine the claims, at the least. If such examination seems to have any merit, then compliance with the notice only makes sense.
If, on the other hand, the claims seem to have no validity, handing it off to a lawyer might make sense.
In the case at hand, the claims of sales of counterfeit goods proved to be true, and the site owner took no steps to protect himself against charges of complicity.
ASSuming that your claim about the "death panels" were correct - that would be worse than the present corporate death panels, HOW?
Face it, Bubba. When the insurance companies decide that you are no longer profitable, they can cut you off anytime. The only thing stopping them is PR.
"most revolutionary things - - all of history"
Somehow, I don't think the internet is nearly so revolutionary a thing as something like the Magna Charta, or the US constitution, or even the abolition of slavery. Given some time, I might prepare a full list of the "most revolutionary things" in history. The intartubez might make it onto that list - maybe between pages 5 and 10. Hell, public education ranks higher, as screwed up as that is!
Heh. I read the bit about incorrect colors and sizes of pie slices, and laughed. I can't read a color coded chart anyway. GIVE ME A BAR GRAPH DAMMIT! Better yet, just post the numbers. ;^)
I would argue that the same idiots who use rear view mirrors to apply makeup, never check the oil, and can't tell that a tire is flat will just find new ways to kill people while texting on their cellphone or playing the newest popular game on their laptop.
Has history taught us nothing? Morons who couldn't walk and chew bubblegum were handed car keys, and the result was carnage. Today, you wish to see the grandsons and granddaughters of those same morons zipping through the sky over your house?
I'm probably talking to one of those grandsons.....
From TFA, "They further said that Chen and his companies had been informed of the activity by Louis Vuitton but still refused to implement a policy for removing the offending sites, which was their responsibility." This proves the defendant and his attorneys were idiots - they had been informed that the trademark was being infringed. They can't pretend that they didn't know the products were counterfeit and illegal.
I can't see how that DMCA defense applies to trademark, or how DMCA applies to real world physical assets. The DMCA is applicable to "intellectual property" as nearly as I can tell.
*cough cough*
People can change? Call me a cynical old sumbitch if you like, but I've seen little evidence of that in my life. Parties can change? Boy, I've got some ocean front property for YOUE! If your political parties are changing, it's probably for the worse, because they don't think they need your support any longer!! The last big change in a political party that I've seen, was when the Republican party turned into a bunch of rabid NeoConservatives - and I wasn't really smart enough to realize what was happening at the time.
I've been hearing for years how dirty the "conservative party" is in the UK. Like clockwork, they approve of yet another measure to keep the sheep under surveillance. Just like here in the states, the party makes any promise to get that vote, then stab the voter in the back once the votes are tallied.
Change. Right. We've just had an election in which the winning candidate's platform was all about change. I voted for that candidate, not because I thought he was going to change anything, but because I was sure the other candidate was likely to get more Americans killed. Sure enough, our liberal president is same-o same-o liberal. I can live with that - I knew he was full of shit during the election.
Your conservatives have changed?
You don't mind that the world doesn't hold it's fucking breath, do you? Funny that you posted as AC. Had you used your own ID, you would have been fingered as a party shill?
"So much in fact, that every possible mutation has appeared already."
Even if such a statement could be verified mathematically AND historically - we still haven't seen every possible mutation in every possible situation in which it might be spread. The world has never before seen the population density we see today. Virulant outbreaks can span the globe in a week or less. The people at CDC are concerned for a reason.
Please - continue. I'm learning all about myself. Now, I know that I am afraid of - what? my shadow? - and that I own a gun to cure my fear. Please, please, continue. I need to know more about myself.
Nutbaggers, you say? Nut. Bag. Nutbaggers. Hmmmm. If I were to play your game, I might ask why you are interested in the nutsacks of people who carry weapons - but, no, I won't even ask. Don't ask, don't tell.......
49% market share does not constitute a monopoly. It doesn't even constitute a majority. It is the single largest market share, yes. Monopoly, no.
The wikipedia may not be a legal definition, but: "Monopolies are thus characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods."
In the search engine market, those who are willing to settle for second-rate have viable alternatives. Only those of us who demand the best are held ransom by the Google monopoly.
"Let me just pontificate"
Not unless you are Catholic
Thank you, now I know that I'm a fascist. Problem, though. Which fascist power do I support? You might propose a group of fascist-like politicians who would like to be in power. Chances are, I might even agree that those politicians are fascists. Problem still remains - I'm not part of the neo-con movement.
And, I scoff at all the fools in the world who are afraid to own and maintain their own weapons. If/when those who DO support the fascists decide to enforce their views on everyone, what are YOU going to do about it? If the goons begin enforcing their views, free speech will be history - unless you have the raw power to enforce your own freedom.
Oh - wait. Maybe I'm wrong. When there are 3,000 fascist marching down YOUR street, you can probably dial 9-1-1 and everything will be made all better. Never mind the fact that fascists have a history of gun control laws and police states, 9-1-1 will fix everything.
Sometimes, you people almost convince me to give up my guns. In a country of 350 million, where 200 million fear firearms, what good can I do when the fascists take over? My weapons will only make me a target!
Phhht. Nuckin phutcases.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
The big picture, is all. The issue is not just harvesting a field, as evidenced from my first post. The issue is caring for the plant, throughout it's life, as well as the soil, and all the rest of the environment that the plant is grown in.
Perhaps you didn't read and comprehend Drinkypoo's post? It's pretty clear that he sees more advantage to micro and/or nanobots than just harvesting without tractors.
Ideally, there wouldn't even be beanfields, cornfields, etc. All of these crops would be grown in the SAME field, along with marigolds and other flowers that attract beneficial insects.
Actually, there is precious little biomass in our agricultural fields today. Tilling has destroyed it. Go out into any cornfield, wheatfield, whatever. Dig down into the soil, and come up with a handfull of stuff. Examine it with your naked eye, and you'll find - dirt. That's it, just dirt.
Go into a field that has lain fallow for a few years. Dig down, grab a handful and examine it. Worms, bugs, grubs, decaying vegetable matter - life. You don't require a microscope or special instruments to see the difference between the sterile dirt in a cornfield, and the living soil in a fallow field. If you choose to put the stuff under a microscope, the difference only becomes more obvious.
The fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides used in monoculture fields is deadly to more than those forms of life we intend to control.
Macro machinery may be adaptable to no-till practices, but they aren't going to solve the monoculture environments we have today. As long as monoculture is the rule, the use of chemicals will continue, which negates much of the benefit of no-till.
Obviously, I don't view monoculture and no-till as seperate issues at all.