If they ask you for maintenance, give them the gory numbers for effort-required, especially after you spent some time understanding it (show them the bill for that time too). At some point they'll go, "You know, maybe it's time we cleaned that code up."
A friend of mine once rewrote the core of the application he was supporting by replacing bits and pieces here and there until he installed the new architecture from the inside-out. They do this with heritage buildings as well.
The patent office did allow patenting genes. The idea was if you've identified a gene that does a particular thing (emphasis here on figuring out what a gene does), you can protect yourself for the limited time the patent offers to make money from that discovery. That doesn't bother me, and the press release about the colour blindness genes stated the discoverers of the genes sold the rights to the company. Those two researchers spent a lot of time and money to find those genes and determine their function, so I have no problem with that.
The problem I have is when a company like Celera(sp?) makes blind patents. They just went wild and patented all the genes/base pairs they found in the human genome. It's a bit like staking a claim over an entire territory hoping someone else will figure out what's there and pay you money for it. They've done no work, and in fact, if an independent laboratory finds a crucial gene without even remotely using Celera's work, Celera can claim they own that gene! That lab does all the work and gets none of the benefits. It's a private tax. Plain and simple.
Did you catch that bit about some ex-Corel employees brokering the deal? I did a Google search and they seem to be a bit of an enigma. They seem to be involved with WINE development, like getting DirectX and Printing working, but no word on what they do. Anybody know what these guys are up to?
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If they ask you for maintenance, give them the gory numbers for effort-required, especially after you spent some time understanding it (show them the bill for that time too). At some point they'll go, "You know, maybe it's time we cleaned that code up."
A friend of mine once rewrote the core of the application he was supporting by replacing bits and pieces here and there until he installed the new architecture from the inside-out. They do this with heritage buildings as well.
Why do you need a damn patent for it? Just don't tell anyone which one it is. If I find it on my own, you can't keep me from using it.
That's how the NIH's Genome chief felt. :-)
The patent office did allow patenting genes. The idea was if you've identified a gene that does a particular thing (emphasis here on figuring out what a gene does), you can protect yourself for the limited time the patent offers to make money from that discovery. That doesn't bother me, and the press release about the colour blindness genes stated the discoverers of the genes sold the rights to the company. Those two researchers spent a lot of time and money to find those genes and determine their function, so I have no problem with that.
The problem I have is when a company like Celera(sp?) makes blind patents. They just went wild and patented all the genes/base pairs they found in the human genome. It's a bit like staking a claim over an entire territory hoping someone else will figure out what's there and pay you money for it. They've done no work, and in fact, if an independent laboratory finds a crucial gene without even remotely using Celera's work, Celera can claim they own that gene! That lab does all the work and gets none of the benefits. It's a private tax. Plain and simple.
Did you catch that bit about some ex-Corel employees brokering the deal? I did a Google search and they seem to be a bit of an enigma. They seem to be involved with WINE development, like getting DirectX and Printing working, but no word on what they do. Anybody know what these guys are up to?