What's wrong with being able to make a few bucks off of something unique, new and original of yours?
The purposes of patents, as I understand them, are twofold. One, to promote research for the benefit of mankind. Two, to promote the sharing of that research, for the benefit of mankind.
The problems with the system as currently enacted are also twofold. One, that obvious and trivial processes are being patented, not for the benefit of mankind (who already had a good idea how the processes worked) but for the benefit of the patenter. And two, there are times when the patent holder uses the monpoly given to them in ways that just piss of a large part of mankind, by e.g. selling life-saving pharmaceuticals at price levels that aren't affordable by most of mankind, when if they were subject to competition, the prices would be way lower. (Yes, I know that without the patent, and the trough-scoffing that follows, the research may not have been carried out in the first place. Well, if the choice is between millions of people dying and hundreds of thousands dying for the want of drugs, then maybe we should consider whether the patent system for pharmaceuticals is broken as designed.)
Hard Hearted Little Beggar Boys Consume Noodles Or Fishes Near Naples. Magnificent Albert Sings Pop Songs Clearly Around Kitchen Cabinets. Scandinavian Titmouse Vindaloo Creates Many Fearful Complains In Curious Zones.
The lowers costs aren't passed on to the customer because . . . they never are. No business ever voluntarily passes on cost savings. They'll only do it in the face of competition or regulation, and the record companies are acting more like a cartel than an industry.
When the newspapers were reporting mortality rates of 2-3%, I was reading the regular SARS updates on The Agonist that made a convincing case for mortality rates of greater than 10%. Sure enough, a week later than the papers were also quoting 10%
Anti-war and pro-war demonstrators need to suck in their egos and face an unflattering truth: the nation has something more important to attend to right now than the regulation and policing of street protests, however fervently held the protesters' beliefs.
So, not only can we trust the government with our data, but we shouldn't protest against them either, because it costs too much.
Secondly, if you want Debian to only be of interest to "people like you", then you should be prepared for it to continue to decline in market-share relative to Redhat,
We don't care. As long as the developers are happy with it, they'll keep on developing for it. As long as they keep on developing, I'll keep on using it. I, like many (most?) Debian users couldn't give a crap about market share.
Radio has been exclusively playing music, although talk radio is growing. Once radio had drama, game shows and almost everything else you now see on television.
It still does in the UK. Of course, we have a license-funded national broascaster . . .
Another tale to read is The Parable of the Cave, from Plato's Republic. This describes a person held from birth in a cave, behind a sheet of fabric, unable to move his head. All he has ever seen are shadows on the sheet from the fire in the cave - a 3d man in a 2d world.
I did my third year project in hypergraphics. It took me a good 3 months to get beyond an inability to even conceptualise more than 3d. Reading Flatland helped, but I think the epiphany was when I came up with a word to add on to 'height, width, depth' - I decided to call the 4th 'outward'. That, and the mary jane, anyway.
Of course, the downside to this philosophy is the incredibly crufty interfaces to a lot of the Windows functionality. But I think it's key to point out that users don't care at all about those things they just care that their applications work.
Stuff that makes things better for the programmer will often lead to programs that are more stable. The user wins in the end.
I guess the list of coders they asked must have been predominately European. It's the only reason I can think of for no Sinclair Spectrum or BBC Micro games to be mentioned.
Manic Miner. Revs. Jet Set Willy. Chuckie Egg. Atic Attack.
And, of course, one of the most innovative games ever, the one that blazed the trail that Wing Commander followed, the first truly open-ended game I remember, the one that did free-360-degree-motion in 48k - Elite
I totally agree about Day of the Tentacle. Still the best puzzle based point-n-clicker I've played - inventive time-travel puzzles, excellent humour, and the first game I remember that had sound clips for everything that was spoken.
The concept of flushing objects down the toilet to send them to the future should have guaranteed a top-50 spot. Shrinking a sweater in a drier so you could warm up the hamster you had frozen in an ice machine for 200 hundred years in order that his hamster wheel could provide power - that genius should have made it top-ten.
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The purposes of patents, as I understand them, are twofold. One, to promote research for the benefit of mankind. Two, to promote the sharing of that research, for the benefit of mankind.
The problems with the system as currently enacted are also twofold. One, that obvious and trivial processes are being patented, not for the benefit of mankind (who already had a good idea how the processes worked) but for the benefit of the patenter. And two, there are times when the patent holder uses the monpoly given to them in ways that just piss of a large part of mankind, by e.g. selling life-saving pharmaceuticals at price levels that aren't affordable by most of mankind, when if they were subject to competition, the prices would be way lower. (Yes, I know that without the patent, and the trough-scoffing that follows, the research may not have been carried out in the first place. Well, if the choice is between millions of people dying and hundreds of thousands dying for the want of drugs, then maybe we should consider whether the patent system for pharmaceuticals is broken as designed.)
Hard Hearted Little Beggar Boys Consume Noodles Or Fishes Near Naples. Magnificent Albert Sings Pop Songs Clearly Around Kitchen Cabinets. Scandinavian Titmouse Vindaloo Creates Many Fearful Complains In Curious Zones.
The lowers costs aren't passed on to the customer because . . . they never are. No business ever voluntarily passes on cost savings. They'll only do it in the face of competition or regulation, and the record companies are acting more like a cartel than an industry.
When the newspapers were reporting mortality rates of 2-3%, I was reading the regular SARS updates on The Agonist that made a convincing case for mortality rates of greater than 10%. Sure enough, a week later than the papers were also quoting 10%
So, not only can we trust the government with our data, but we shouldn't protest against them either, because it costs too much.
I'm a fluent Welsh speaking geek who reads Alan's diary. That probably just makes the two of us, and Alan isn't even that fluent yet.
Or as Tom Lehrer put it,
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department", said Wehrner von Braun.
It still does in the UK. Of course, we have a license-funded national broascaster . . .
BBC News story (scroll down a little)
I agree, Flatland is great.
Another tale to read is The Parable of the Cave, from Plato's Republic. This describes a person held from birth in a cave, behind a sheet of fabric, unable to move his head. All he has ever seen are shadows on the sheet from the fire in the cave - a 3d man in a 2d world.
I did my third year project in hypergraphics. It took me a good 3 months to get beyond an inability to even conceptualise more than 3d. Reading Flatland helped, but I think the epiphany was when I came up with a word to add on to 'height, width, depth' - I decided to call the 4th 'outward'. That, and the mary jane, anyway.
Can you say "Dmitry Sklyarov"?
Not easily, no.
Tell them why their site sucks.
r ov eSite/1,1889,,00.html
http://sharpelectronics.com/global/ContactUsImp
(you may have to turn off javascript to get there, of course)
Of course, the downside to this philosophy is the incredibly crufty interfaces to a lot of the Windows functionality. But I think it's key to point out that users don't care at all about those things they just care that their applications work.
Stuff that makes things better for the programmer will often lead to programs that are more stable. The user wins in the end.
Well, that's a nice thought, an' all, but if it's any good, and fills a commercial void, people will use it whether it violates the GPL or not.
The true free-market outcome would normally be to fork, but if they are using patent laws to protect against this, that may be impossible.
Uh. I meant predominately American of course
I guess the list of coders they asked must have been predominately European. It's the only reason I can think of for no Sinclair Spectrum or BBC Micro games to be mentioned. Manic Miner. Revs. Jet Set Willy. Chuckie Egg. Atic Attack.
And, of course, one of the most innovative games ever, the one that blazed the trail that Wing Commander followed, the first truly open-ended game I remember, the one that did free-360-degree-motion in 48k - Elite
I totally agree about Day of the Tentacle. Still the best puzzle based point-n-clicker I've played - inventive time-travel puzzles, excellent humour, and the first game I remember that had sound clips for everything that was spoken. The concept of flushing objects down the toilet to send them to the future should have guaranteed a top-50 spot. Shrinking a sweater in a drier so you could warm up the hamster you had frozen in an ice machine for 200 hundred years in order that his hamster wheel could provide power - that genius should have made it top-ten.
Not in Europe, we won't. Do we even have a standard set yet?