They probably should have published it as prior art, but prior art doesn't seem to mean much in this world. The USPTO seems to ignore any prior art and then issue the patent anyway. Then Google would likely get sued and have to spend the money to defend the lawsuit (likely in East Texas) and then get the patent invalidated. It is cheaper to file for it themselves then try to defend a lawsuit later.
I honestly don't believe that's the reason they have done this. I wish it was, and I hope it does show how ridiculous the patent system has gotten, but I doubt that was the main reason google applied for this patent.
Google is a US company, I say they just cut off Italy all together. The lost revenue would probably be easily made up for in the easing of the regulatory hassle.
Can I propose one more item for your agenda?
Term limits on all elected officials. I'm tired of these career politicians. It's supposed to be a public service and to a lot of them they think it's their right. Set a term limit and hopefully they'd be more likely to actually serve than be worried about reelection every few years.
It is configurable, albeit not through the options dialog. In about:config
browser.urlbar.maxRichResults = 1 or 0 1 for firefox 2 style, 0 for no search
browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped = true
That will turn it off, if it really bothers you
Not including LAN play is a calculated risk that I think will pay off just fine. Reduce the pirates, increase revenue. Works for me!
But that's the issue. It will not reduce the pirates. If anything it is more likely to increase the pirates. Someone will crack the game and add LAN play in or someone will publish a battle.net emulator like bnetd. The game will be pirated the same with or without LAN. This is just Blizzard intentionally crippling functionality.
Those aren't similar at all. Sure people complained about the changes to Fallout 3 but that was a minor change to something you couldn't do during gameplay. This is intentionally crippling a basic feature of the game for no good reason.
There are many people who are unable to play games online. One thing I've failed to see mentioned by many is people with satellite internet. You really think someone with satellite internet is going to be able to play a real time strategy game when your average latency is upwards of a second? That is a very legitimate reason to want LAN play in a game where as the complaints about not being able to kill children is irrelevant as to who can play the game.
You obviously haven't used Steam in a while. Steam does have some bugs but recently it has been incredibly stable. Plus, the only reason Steam doesn't have a match making system is because steam users don't want one. Matchmaking for TF2? There was a lot of complaints about the fact the L4D used matchmaking and it fit alot better there then it does on most Valve games.
It doesn't sound to me like they are doing anything but copy the steam community system. Steam has a full chat system and friends system. The only difference seems to be the inclusion of a matchmaking system, which L4D has, but would likely not be welcome in any other Valve games (It's arguable whether it was welcome in L4D)
Re:My Markting Shill-O-Meter Just Exploded!!
on
Blizzcon 2009 Wrap-Up
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
How can Google be responsible for protecting her anonymity, when it was a court order to reveal it. Is Google supposed to just refuse to fulfill the order? Please someone enlighten me.
I know in my case that spawned copy is what drove me to buy the game. The first time I played Starcraft was a LAN using a friend's spawned copy. I thought the game was so great I went out and bought a copy. Not only that, but over the years I've actually bought 3 copies now (I have a bad habit of losing CD's).
360 is the same way. It looks beautiful on a decent size HDTV, but developer seem to still not realized that not everyone has a 720p or better TV. On my old 26" tube most text outside of the main menus was completely unreadable for most 360 games.
They had differences among units sure, but on the whole the races were very similar. With Starcraft playing Zerg requires a completely different style than playing Protoss. As Zerg I can throw Zerglings at you and if they die I don't really care. They are cheap and easy to produce. With Protoss your economy can feel every unit lost. As far as I know no other game had tried something so radical at the time.
Total Annihilation may not have been identical but they were far from being fundamentally different. Don't get me wrong I love TA and still play it, but it's sides were very similar.
You stated your self what revolutionary things Blizzard has done. The big one being non-identical sides. Think of the major games before Starcraft. I honestly can't think of a single one that had teams that were more than different models and maybe a few variations on special abilities like Warcraft had. The idea of having 3 completely distinct and yet balanced races was extremely revolutionary. What Starcraft did was show that you could have races that were absolutely nothing alike and yet the battles would still be balanced and fun.
Forget Left 4 Dead. As a proud TF2 soldier, I can say I'm quite excited about the prospect of actually getting to hit my enemies in the face with a shovel.
You may call Steam the most restrictive DRM on the market and I would agree. However it is the only DRM system I've ever used I can honestly say I like. Yes it is used to restrict piracy, but they provide a great value through that service. Updates happen automatically, I can redownload any time I need to, and they integrate fairly well with their community offerings.
The thing your missing is that is exactly what Google wants. They have been saying for years that eventually the browser will be the operating system and everything will function over a network. This is simply their first attempt at making that a reality.
Slashdot Mirror
They probably should have published it as prior art, but prior art doesn't seem to mean much in this world. The USPTO seems to ignore any prior art and then issue the patent anyway. Then Google would likely get sued and have to spend the money to defend the lawsuit (likely in East Texas) and then get the patent invalidated. It is cheaper to file for it themselves then try to defend a lawsuit later. I honestly don't believe that's the reason they have done this. I wish it was, and I hope it does show how ridiculous the patent system has gotten, but I doubt that was the main reason google applied for this patent.
Google is a US company, I say they just cut off Italy all together. The lost revenue would probably be easily made up for in the easing of the regulatory hassle.
Can I propose one more item for your agenda? Term limits on all elected officials. I'm tired of these career politicians. It's supposed to be a public service and to a lot of them they think it's their right. Set a term limit and hopefully they'd be more likely to actually serve than be worried about reelection every few years.
It is configurable, albeit not through the options dialog. In about:config browser.urlbar.maxRichResults = 1 or 0 1 for firefox 2 style, 0 for no search browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped = true That will turn it off, if it really bothers you
Not including LAN play is a calculated risk that I think will pay off just fine. Reduce the pirates, increase revenue. Works for me!
But that's the issue. It will not reduce the pirates. If anything it is more likely to increase the pirates. Someone will crack the game and add LAN play in or someone will publish a battle.net emulator like bnetd. The game will be pirated the same with or without LAN. This is just Blizzard intentionally crippling functionality.
Those aren't similar at all. Sure people complained about the changes to Fallout 3 but that was a minor change to something you couldn't do during gameplay. This is intentionally crippling a basic feature of the game for no good reason. There are many people who are unable to play games online. One thing I've failed to see mentioned by many is people with satellite internet. You really think someone with satellite internet is going to be able to play a real time strategy game when your average latency is upwards of a second? That is a very legitimate reason to want LAN play in a game where as the complaints about not being able to kill children is irrelevant as to who can play the game.
You obviously haven't used Steam in a while. Steam does have some bugs but recently it has been incredibly stable. Plus, the only reason Steam doesn't have a match making system is because steam users don't want one. Matchmaking for TF2? There was a lot of complaints about the fact the L4D used matchmaking and it fit alot better there then it does on most Valve games.
It doesn't sound to me like they are doing anything but copy the steam community system. Steam has a full chat system and friends system. The only difference seems to be the inclusion of a matchmaking system, which L4D has, but would likely not be welcome in any other Valve games (It's arguable whether it was welcome in L4D)
Why is this modded Flamebait?
How can Google be responsible for protecting her anonymity, when it was a court order to reveal it. Is Google supposed to just refuse to fulfill the order? Please someone enlighten me.
I know in my case that spawned copy is what drove me to buy the game. The first time I played Starcraft was a LAN using a friend's spawned copy. I thought the game was so great I went out and bought a copy. Not only that, but over the years I've actually bought 3 copies now (I have a bad habit of losing CD's).
Unfortunately the guarantee of free speech in the 1st amendment only applies to the government. Flickr is a company and can do as they please.
360 is the same way. It looks beautiful on a decent size HDTV, but developer seem to still not realized that not everyone has a 720p or better TV. On my old 26" tube most text outside of the main menus was completely unreadable for most 360 games.
They had differences among units sure, but on the whole the races were very similar. With Starcraft playing Zerg requires a completely different style than playing Protoss. As Zerg I can throw Zerglings at you and if they die I don't really care. They are cheap and easy to produce. With Protoss your economy can feel every unit lost. As far as I know no other game had tried something so radical at the time.
Total Annihilation may not have been identical but they were far from being fundamentally different. Don't get me wrong I love TA and still play it, but it's sides were very similar.
You stated your self what revolutionary things Blizzard has done. The big one being non-identical sides. Think of the major games before Starcraft. I honestly can't think of a single one that had teams that were more than different models and maybe a few variations on special abilities like Warcraft had. The idea of having 3 completely distinct and yet balanced races was extremely revolutionary. What Starcraft did was show that you could have races that were absolutely nothing alike and yet the battles would still be balanced and fun.
Forget Left 4 Dead. As a proud TF2 soldier, I can say I'm quite excited about the prospect of actually getting to hit my enemies in the face with a shovel.
You may call Steam the most restrictive DRM on the market and I would agree. However it is the only DRM system I've ever used I can honestly say I like. Yes it is used to restrict piracy, but they provide a great value through that service. Updates happen automatically, I can redownload any time I need to, and they integrate fairly well with their community offerings.
Only on slashdot could this possibly be modded informative.
Haven't you learned yet that proper comparisons always compare the low end of one product to the high end of the other.
The thing your missing is that is exactly what Google wants. They have been saying for years that eventually the browser will be the operating system and everything will function over a network. This is simply their first attempt at making that a reality.