"Anyone else can still do X and Y, so long as they either a) invented their own, wholly different technique for doing it or b) if they want to do it in the same way, they pay for the cost of discovering it by licensing the patent."
I guess this is wrong then?
"The Register has a story on how verisign was granted the DNS lookup patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,560,634). Scripts which check to see if a domainname has been taken would be in violation with this patent"
Assuming that the people who wrote these scripts wrote them on their own, they shouldn't be in violation of Verisign's patent and anyone that writes their own search query autocompletion script isn't violating this one regardless of whether it does the same thing or not because they wrote it on their own.
" Isn't this just as illegal as releasing the worm itself? What if the fix has some adverse effects that we don't know about?"
I don't know why this is modded as flamebait. I think it's a perfectly valid question. Especially with all the people on slashdot that complain about Windows Update breaking more things than it fixes.
I agree that this now self worm is a good thing and I don't really know what exactly it does but what if there's some infected computer that the fix has an adverse effect on? Are they going to be liable for it?
I just don't get the idea of software patents. Sure, if I write some nifty little app that someone copies/steals and sells as their own, I can see a problem there. But I'm having a hard time saying that if I write that nifty app and patent it, then no one else can write an app like mine, regardless of whether they come up with the code by themselves.
I guess somebody should have patented 'a program for creating and modifying documents which can then be electronically saved, printed or emailed to other people' or maybe patent 'a game where the player runs around in a 3d world with a first person perspective shooting everything in sight'.
Maybe that's why it's 2003 and I still don't have my flying car.. someone patented it so the big companies like GM and Ford can't mass produce them and make them affordable.
I apologize, I didn't RTFA (or patent in this case) before posting.:) I shamefully based my opinions on the slashdot summary and didn't really think it was quite so complicated.
I still don't think it should be patentable but I agree, it is significantly more original than I previously thought.
"I've seen some pieces of code that are VERY beautiful and emotional.... I nearly creamed my pants when I read through my first recursive function"
Ok dude, I think you need a girlfriend.:)
I wouldn't really consider myself an expert coder or an excellent artist but I do enjoy both. For me, it's about the act of creativity and turning some basic components into something more complexe and elegant. When I finish a picture, I look at it and think to myself, wow that's really cool. I get the same type of feeling if I hack up some nifty little web app in PHP.
It amazes me (not in a sexual way though;) ) how plain old words or paint or whatever other medium can be turned into something so elegant.
Do hacking and painting share characteristics? Certainly. Are they the same? In some ways yes but in others, no. An average person that knows nothing about code or painting probably won't be able to look at a peice of code and appreciate it nearly as much as a peice of art.
Code has other advantages though. You can look at that recursive function for the first time and be amazed by it when you understand how it works because it stimulates your mind.
I knew there had to be an exception but I couldn't think of it. stupid english language. We should just go back to the old way of communicating: grunt, point and draw pictures.:)
"management doesn't want to install software that does not have 24 hour"
Tell them for about $40 a month, they can buy you a cellphone and make you their 24hr on call person. And of course since you'll be salaried, you won't get over time for those 2am calls. They'll like that.;)
"A long-time figure in the Internet pornography world, Shuster... Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off."
Does he not realized how hard he's going to make it for people to get their porn fix at work? That's gotta be a big chunk of the internet pornography business:)
"How so? Last I checked, people who released software under the GPL didn't spend millions on advertising that claims said software is secure and reliable.
Plus, GPLed software has the source publicly available, so the argument could be made that reviewing the code before deploying it would comprise 'due diligence' on the part of anyone who wished to use that software, and that if someone didn't do that, it's negligence on their part."
Let's assume this is correct and that a company is only liable for their code if they sell it to you. How hard of a time do you think it would be to convince management to use an open source product in this scenario?
A. We pay $10,000 for this software and if there is ever a problem, we can sue them for damages. or
B. We use this free open source software and if it ever screws up, there is no recourse.
Which one do you think management will pick? I suppose they could hire someone to verify the code since it's open source but there would be a cost with that and it wouldn't really protect them. If their system goes down and they lose $500,000 in sales, they really can't sue their employee for that and any intelligent contractor/company would likely have a clause that they are only liable for the amount which the service cost.
Here's an analogy for anyone who thinks they would pick A, there's a really big tree looming over your house that looks like it's dying. Your neighbor has a chainsaw and offers to cut it down for free. You call some contractors that are bonded and insured which tell you it will cost $2000 but if they screw up and it falls on your house, they have to pay for damages. Which would you pick?
my salary will go up since people might sue me for mal-practice like a doctor if I screw up?:)
That's a scary thought though, that I could be liable for any bad code I write... er I mean, this would have no affect on me because I'm a genius and never make a mistake.
"They also want it to look nice in their living area.
The average/. reader wants a powerful machine in with a lot of flexability, and generaly cares little about the case it comes in."
you're exactly right, just the other day my grandma called me up and was all like 'hey sonny, you've gotta come over and check out my leet case mods.. it's all blue and stuff like my hair'
On another note, many non computer literate people have some geek relative or friend that they ask about all of their computer purchases so in that respect, the average slashdot reader can make a difference.
Slashdot Mirror
"I see no fundimental reason that we can't have a situation where everyone is on the same level with T1-speed service up and down."
;)
Let me know if you run for president or anything, you've got my vote
"Anyone else can still do X and Y, so long as they either a) invented their own, wholly different technique for doing it or b) if they want to do it in the same way, they pay for the cost of discovering it by licensing the patent."
I guess this is wrong then?
"The Register has a story on how verisign was granted the DNS lookup patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,560,634). Scripts which check to see if a domainname has been taken would be in violation with this patent"
Assuming that the people who wrote these scripts wrote them on their own, they shouldn't be in violation of Verisign's patent and anyone that writes their own search query autocompletion script isn't violating this one regardless of whether it does the same thing or not because they wrote it on their own.
" Isn't this just as illegal as releasing the worm itself? What if the fix has some adverse effects that we don't know about?"
I don't know why this is modded as flamebait. I think it's a perfectly valid question. Especially with all the people on slashdot that complain about Windows Update breaking more things than it fixes.
I agree that this now self worm is a good thing and I don't really know what exactly it does but what if there's some infected computer that the fix has an adverse effect on? Are they going to be liable for it?
I just don't get the idea of software patents. Sure, if I write some nifty little app that someone copies/steals and sells as their own, I can see a problem there. But I'm having a hard time saying that if I write that nifty app and patent it, then no one else can write an app like mine, regardless of whether they come up with the code by themselves.
I guess somebody should have patented 'a program for creating and modifying documents which can then be electronically saved, printed or emailed to other people' or maybe patent 'a game where the player runs around in a 3d world with a first person perspective shooting everything in sight'.
Maybe that's why it's 2003 and I still don't have my flying car.. someone patented it so the big companies like GM and Ford can't mass produce them and make them affordable.
I apologize, I didn't RTFA (or patent in this case) before posting. :) I shamefully based my opinions on the slashdot summary and didn't really think it was quite so complicated.
I still don't think it should be patentable but I agree, it is significantly more original than I previously thought.
" Unlike the other patents this does actually look like an original idea."
huh?
I know you're a troll but come on, try a little bit harder next time.
Those are the lyrics huh? Well then I think she better watch out coz the smurfs are going to sue her.
"Now if they could make the denomiations in different sizes too so it can be easier to tell the difference between them in dark clubs and such."
:)
black-light sensetive like those little hand stamps?
" It can pick me out in a crowd, and it can show a number of emotions, such as surprise, anger, and boredom.... yawn."
That's all well and good but, can it pee in your shoe when it gets mad that you don't pay enough attention to it?
Now we get pretty money like other countries. :)
"An Etch-a-Sketch also has these advantages as well- and you can draw a doggy on it!"
:)
If you can draw anything that resembles a doggy on an etch-a-sketch, I salute you. I'm lucky if I get a straight line.
"They should move on up to Oregon; we don't have a sales tax and we've got a lot of people who would like to have a job"
;)
Or better yet, just move to another country where they don't have to collect tax AND labor is cheaper.
"I still have yet to find a nice single sentence summary for why security is necessary"
Have you tried this one:
Please give me your name, SSN, address, mother's maiden name credit card numbers/expiration dates and the keys to your home.
If that one doesn't work then try this: Please point a gun to your head and pull the trigger.
'Hello Dave, you are looking at secure data. What are you reading about Dave?'
"I've seen some pieces of code that are VERY beautiful and emotional. ... I nearly creamed my pants when I read through my first recursive function"
:)
;) ) how plain old words or paint or whatever other medium can be turned into something so elegant.
Ok dude, I think you need a girlfriend.
I wouldn't really consider myself an expert coder or an excellent artist but I do enjoy both. For me, it's about the act of creativity and turning some basic components into something more complexe and elegant. When I finish a picture, I look at it and think to myself, wow that's really cool. I get the same type of feeling if I hack up some nifty little web app in PHP.
It amazes me (not in a sexual way though
Do hacking and painting share characteristics? Certainly. Are they the same? In some ways yes but in others, no. An average person that knows nothing about code or painting probably won't be able to look at a peice of code and appreciate it nearly as much as a peice of art.
Code has other advantages though. You can look at that recursive function for the first time and be amazed by it when you understand how it works because it stimulates your mind.
doh!
:)
I knew there had to be an exception but I couldn't think of it. stupid english language. We should just go back to the old way of communicating: grunt, point and draw pictures.
"Also it's "i" before "e" except after "c" Not always but you're right in this circumstance."
:)
According to Lisa Simpson, it's something like 'i before e except when it sounds like a as in neighbor and weigh'
I'm sure some pedant will jump in with the exact quote and the episode name/number.
Oh, and to make it on topic, if you find that rule doesn't apply then the matrix has you.
"You may as well admit it -- you liked the action."
:)
yup, the action and trinity
"management doesn't want to install software that does not have 24 hour"
;)
Tell them for about $40 a month, they can buy you a cellphone and make you their 24hr on call person. And of course since you'll be salaried, you won't get over time for those 2am calls. They'll like that.
my box got hacked
" I think I'll patent annoying stupid people and make a million bucks. I don't know which is more intrusive. Pop-ups, or annoying stupid people."
I was going to say you wouldn't get much money from annoying stupid people becase, well they're stupid and so they don't have much money.
Then I realized management is full of annoying stupid people that all make way more money than I do.
"A long-time figure in the Internet pornography world, Shuster ... Shuster has a long list of pending patents, including one for pop-up audio ads that cannot be turned off."
:)
Does he not realized how hard he's going to make it for people to get their porn fix at work? That's gotta be a big chunk of the internet pornography business
"How so? Last I checked, people who released software under the GPL didn't spend millions on advertising that claims said software is secure and reliable.
Plus, GPLed software has the source publicly available, so the argument could be made that reviewing the code before deploying it would comprise 'due diligence' on the part of anyone who wished to use that software, and that if someone didn't do that, it's negligence on their part."
Let's assume this is correct and that a company is only liable for their code if they sell it to you. How hard of a time do you think it would be to convince management to use an open source product in this scenario?
A. We pay $10,000 for this software and if there is ever a problem, we can sue them for damages. or
B. We use this free open source software and if it ever screws up, there is no recourse.
Which one do you think management will pick? I suppose they could hire someone to verify the code since it's open source but there would be a cost with that and it wouldn't really protect them. If their system goes down and they lose $500,000 in sales, they really can't sue their employee for that and any intelligent contractor/company would likely have a clause that they are only liable for the amount which the service cost.
Here's an analogy for anyone who thinks they would pick A, there's a really big tree looming over your house that looks like it's dying. Your neighbor has a chainsaw and offers to cut it down for free. You call some contractors that are bonded and insured which tell you it will cost $2000 but if they screw up and it falls on your house, they have to pay for damages. Which would you pick?
my salary will go up since people might sue me for mal-practice like a doctor if I screw up? :)
That's a scary thought though, that I could be liable for any bad code I write... er I mean, this would have no affect on me because I'm a genius and never make a mistake.
"They also want it to look nice in their living area. The average /. reader wants a powerful machine in with a lot of flexability, and generaly cares little about the case it comes in."
you're exactly right, just the other day my grandma called me up and was all like 'hey sonny, you've gotta come over and check out my leet case mods.. it's all blue and stuff like my hair'
On another note, many non computer literate people have some geek relative or friend that they ask about all of their computer purchases so in that respect, the average slashdot reader can make a difference.