Honestly people, try and speak in less general terms. "Patents" are not evil. This or that patent may be -- ALL patents are clearly not. The grand economy you all benefit from grows because of entrepreneurs. These are people who assume great risk in pursuing ideas. Patents are intended to protect those pursuits. They expire after, I believe, 20 years. This encourages the inventor (short period of personal reward for effort), and benefits society (patent protection encourages development of ideas which are, after 20 years, released into the public domain).
Perhaps the open-source-heavy tone of slashdot is clouding minds. Here's some advice: That's the real world out there. If y'all want to slave for free so that other people can profit off your labour, that's great. It's noble, though strange, given Marx. But here's some advice: try thinking of something useful, even indispensable, building it, and patenting it. You might just become important, instead of reactionary and out of touch. Or you can just keep pumping money into the pockets of Linus' and Eric's et. al. Oh right. And Bill.
Self interest people. Wake up. Nobody cares about your rosy-eyed geekscapes.
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30 million, lost the link.
Honestly people, try and speak in less general terms. "Patents" are not evil. This or that patent may be -- ALL patents are clearly not. The grand economy you all benefit from grows because of entrepreneurs. These are people who assume great risk in pursuing ideas. Patents are intended to protect those pursuits. They expire after, I believe, 20 years. This encourages the inventor (short period of personal reward for effort), and benefits society (patent protection encourages development of ideas which are, after 20 years, released into the public domain). Perhaps the open-source-heavy tone of slashdot is clouding minds. Here's some advice: That's the real world out there. If y'all want to slave for free so that other people can profit off your labour, that's great. It's noble, though strange, given Marx. But here's some advice: try thinking of something useful, even indispensable, building it, and patenting it. You might just become important, instead of reactionary and out of touch. Or you can just keep pumping money into the pockets of Linus' and Eric's et. al. Oh right. And Bill. Self interest people. Wake up. Nobody cares about your rosy-eyed geekscapes.