This "swinging sideways" patent is as much about the skewed value system of the US PTO office as it is a joke.
Should we really take it in such a light-hearted
way that a person can patent a behavior (a process)
which has indeed been published in numerous
children's books and probably in Tarzan comics
as well? It sounds funny, but when you
consider the horendous track record of the
PTO regarding software patents, it is really a
very bad joke.
Because really the issue is, they don't even
look for prior art--which is their job--but
instead bend over backwards to please
corporations, which are the main patent applicants.
The PTO is yet another example of a government
agency which exists mainly to serve corporate
interests.
And that fact is not in the least bit funny.
It's almost enough to make me anyway
become a libertarian.
The headline says it all. AMD, while it had seemed to be a David against Goliath, is in fact taking sides with the software Goliath. Regardless of their justifications, I for one will not be buying an AMD based system for the indefinite future. Their opinion on the matter is moot anyway, but if their management is so tactless as to state their personal bias publicly, then so be it, they earned my boycott.
I have come to find my non-technical friends
increasingly complaining that they can't find
anything on the web anymore. I don't blame
this on the number of web pages, however,
because I myself interviewed with Google.
If their interviewing tactics speak at all
about their technical skill, I'd have to say
they are piss poor. The interview seemed to
be more about extracting new ideas from me
than anything else. They came off as not
having a clue as to how to move forward with
their business. Granted, they need creative
employees. But apparently they don't have
them now. As for their questions to assess
my technical knowledge, they were obscure
to say the least--hardly proof of anything.
I believe
Google is suffering from what most Silicon
Valley companies apparently are: hubris and
brain drain. No self-respecting intelligent
person would live in a hyper-expensive cultural
vacuum like Silicon Valley (or commute
an hour from SF each way). Smart people left
long before the dotcom bubble popped, because
there are many better places by far.
Re:Java is actually quite useful. But it's doomed.
on
Trouble Ahead for Java
·
· Score: 0
"This isn't greed, this is what makes it possible to pay salaries and bills."
This is a typical conservative tactic: pretend
to be on the defensive, while lying your ass off
about the facts.
The fact is, corporate tactics used to ostensibly
make money
have time and time
again been shown to be unethical. They refuse
play on a level playing field, but are always
scheming against the public, or in Sun's
case,
they are scheming in such a way that it will
in the end hurt themselves.
Java will go the way of Warp.
Of course there is. Think about it. M$ and other evil corporations are aggressively pursuing illegal patents on software (those for which ample prior art exists), which would make much open source software illegal. They are trying to make open source moot by gaining ownership of the ideas. Once that is done, they can shut down open source projects if they like, or ignore them since what they are really betting on is making money from web patents---i.e. they are erecting toll booths on the web.
So they're trying to do an end-run around open source, but they also don't care so much because that's not where the money is.
Another end-run they are doing is lobbying the US gov to force Japan and Europe to enact software-patent laws. Japan has already caved in. Europe is smartly stalling on it.
The software patent issue is, therefore, very important. Everyone should read up on it.
And that is my major point about M$, that they steal everything they do. This is why they are so afraid of the idea of making their code public.
If you were to look at their code, you would see clearly that it violates hundreds of software patents, which short-term-thinking corporate types incorrectly think is the holy grail of profit. And this is why, a few years ago, when it was found that part of Win95 had been stolen by hackers inside the company and circulated in Russia, they went ballistic.
The austistic super-monkey DNA was extracted from a pot-of-gold discovered in the sunken city off Cuba and is AT THIS VERY MOMENT being re-engineered on Isla Sorna by ex-make-money-fast telemarketers arranged in a Wiccan circle (for the magical effect) who are STILL rapturous about receiving PhD's-by-mail from Harvard using the new PHP-based rapid-deployment remote-learning system deploying by that prestigious institution! Viva America!!!
I am so very glad to see something that doesn't obsess over games or get overly chipper about a new piece of hardware that is 0.01 percent faster. Finally, something with a human element.
Thanks, but we can't play catch-up. We're permanently screwed over by our love of "competition". The idea that "anyone can get rich in America" means that everyone is trying to block everyone else. Thus we frequently witness, on both the national level and in the local-yokel small towns, endless bickering to determine who will come out on top. With national technical issues, they fight over common standards and start patent infringement suits and demand injunctions, all of which prevents new ideas from reaching market. But as with DVDs, even the most depraved competitors eventually realize they're ruining it for everyone by fighting endlessly over who will seize the spoils of new technology. So eventually we can look forward to a nicely rigged legal cartel situation in which service fees are extraordinarily high because there are too many fingers in the pot. At which point the new technology goes belly up and the government saves yet another corporation from bankruptcy. Viva USA.
The US government sells its services to the highest bidder, while it builds new infrastructure using the lowest bidder. This guarantees low quality in all government services and projects. With regard to the FCC, clearly it is in the hands of the (increasingly few) media corporations.
When will the brain-dead conservative media realize that hackers are people who engage in 100% legal recreational programming, and are not the same thing as crackers, who break into systems? These people are so dumb, and you know you don't have to be a primatologist to realize what stupid monkeys they are.
Calling King Kong....time for your shock therapy treatment...
"Do you not have anything better to do with your time than bitch and moan "
By the same token, don't you have anything
better to do than bitch and moan and people
who demand better quality?
Typical american conservative....
You may now grow up, please
That's not the point. Just as one doesn't spit in public or drink beer in a church, one shouldn't post crap writing on a regular basis simply to appeal to teenagers. And yet it's worse than just that. I've seen better writing at gaming sites. No other high-tech site is this badly edited.
In the post for this article, the author writes
like an enthused teenager, not like a professional.
I don't know if these clowns who post articles
are actual teenagers, or people trying to write
"down" to teenage level, but it's irritating.
And no, it's not "slightly" interesting, this
isn't a "spin" on someone else's idea, and I am
not "leaning" toward an opinion. The writing
simply sucks. Fix it.
I applied at Google to work as a programmer.
I observed the same basic problem that seems to
plague most Silicon Valley companies, and
that is that Google employs too many people
who just don't know what they are doing.
Why? Because like most of the companies
in the valley Google hires young kids
with no life experience and
usually college degree.
These kids just an arrogant attitude and an
sufficiently conservative bent to impress
the dimwit managers.
In short, a useless
bunch of people. Programming is simply
not a blue-collar job, no matter what Silicon
Valley wants to believe. It's a profession
and companies need to respect that.
Why should I pay money
to learn how to develop for Mozilla
and thereby give my programming
labor away for free
to a profit-making corporation that can
afford to pay me?
Mozilla is not a true
open source project--it's a trick
to permit a corporation to exploit workers.
The license keeps control in the hands of a corporation--that should be enough indication.
Mozilla is bad for
workers, bad for the public,
and last time I checked it's pretty
buggy as well.
I'll pass on this one!
Pat denials and personal attacks only show how weak your position is.
Tests have shown they are dangerous. Fact.
I just bought a cell phone, and it included in the manual an explanation that the microwaves transmitted are dangerous and suggests using the ear piece. Supporting fact.
In my experience, people who make a living doing security are at the moment having a field-day. This was true before 911, too.
The reason is the profound ignorance about what crackers can do, the many scary stories, the small-minded mentality of Americans in general. Did you know that America has more people in prisons and jails than China, which has maybe 4 times the population? Americans are hyper-paranoid about crime. Crimes of almost all types have been decreasing in the past ten years, but many cities have doubled their police forces recently.
In California, many public libraries now have private security guards roaming about. It's simply not necessary. But it's trendy to be paranoid.
How does this tie in with F-451? I think perhaps the novel and movie didn't cover the behind the scenes reality of the security aparatus enough. But the movie at least did depict the mindless fears of the public.
Anyway, the book is more appropriate now than ever.
If a person told me I had to fear the unknown, then told me I had to hire him to protect myself, I would call him a crook: I'd say he's with the mafia.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, nice insult, coward. Speaking of creativity I can see you have almost none.
Should we really take it in such a light-hearted way that a person can patent a behavior (a process) which has indeed been published in numerous children's books and probably in Tarzan comics as well? It sounds funny, but when you consider the horendous track record of the PTO regarding software patents, it is really a very bad joke.
Because really the issue is, they don't even look for prior art--which is their job--but instead bend over backwards to please corporations, which are the main patent applicants.
The PTO is yet another example of a government agency which exists mainly to serve corporate interests.
And that fact is not in the least bit funny. It's almost enough to make me anyway become a libertarian.
The headline says it all. AMD, while it had seemed to be a David against Goliath, is in fact taking sides with the software Goliath. Regardless of their justifications, I for one will not be buying an AMD based system for the indefinite future. Their opinion on the matter is moot anyway, but if their management is so tactless as to state their personal bias publicly, then so be it, they earned my boycott.
If their interviewing tactics speak at all about their technical skill, I'd have to say they are piss poor. The interview seemed to be more about extracting new ideas from me than anything else. They came off as not having a clue as to how to move forward with their business. Granted, they need creative employees. But apparently they don't have them now. As for their questions to assess my technical knowledge, they were obscure to say the least--hardly proof of anything.
I believe Google is suffering from what most Silicon Valley companies apparently are: hubris and brain drain. No self-respecting intelligent person would live in a hyper-expensive cultural vacuum like Silicon Valley (or commute an hour from SF each way). Smart people left long before the dotcom bubble popped, because there are many better places by far.
This is a typical conservative tactic: pretend to be on the defensive, while lying your ass off about the facts.
The fact is, corporate tactics used to ostensibly make money have time and time again been shown to be unethical. They refuse play on a level playing field, but are always scheming against the public, or in Sun's case, they are scheming in such a way that it will in the end hurt themselves. Java will go the way of Warp.
"May be there is something going on here. "
n u.org
Of course there is. Think about it.
M$ and other evil corporations are aggressively
pursuing illegal patents on software (those
for which ample prior art exists), which would
make much open source software illegal. They
are trying to make open source moot by gaining
ownership of the ideas. Once that is done,
they can shut down open source projects
if they like, or ignore them since what they
are really betting on is making money from
web patents---i.e. they are erecting toll booths
on the web.
So they're trying to do an end-run around open
source, but they also don't care so much
because that's not where the money is.
Another end-run they are doing is lobbying
the US gov to force Japan and Europe to enact
software-patent laws. Japan has already caved in.
Europe is smartly stalling on it.
The software patent issue is, therefore,
very important. Everyone should read up on it.
www.bustpatents.org
www.freepatents.org
www.g
Ha ha, made you reply.
And that is my major point about M$, that they steal everything they do. This is why they are so afraid of the idea of making their code public. If you were to look at their code, you would see clearly that it violates hundreds of software patents, which short-term-thinking corporate types incorrectly think is the holy grail of profit. And this is why, a few years ago, when it was found that part of Win95 had been stolen by hackers inside the company and circulated in Russia, they went ballistic.
M$ is a company of Nazi-inspired thieves.
The austistic super-monkey DNA was extracted from a pot-of-gold discovered in the sunken city off Cuba and is AT THIS VERY MOMENT being re-engineered on Isla Sorna by ex-make-money-fast telemarketers arranged in a Wiccan circle (for the magical effect) who are STILL rapturous about receiving PhD's-by-mail from Harvard using the new PHP-based rapid-deployment remote-learning system deploying by that prestigious institution! Viva America!!!
Let's face it, computers are just a passing fad. In only a few more years we'll all have genetically-engineered austistic monkey slaves.
I am so very glad to see something that doesn't obsess over games or get overly chipper about a new piece of hardware that is 0.01 percent faster. Finally, something with a human element.
Thanks, but we can't play catch-up. We're permanently screwed over by our love of "competition". The idea that "anyone can get rich in America" means that everyone is trying to block everyone else. Thus we frequently witness, on both the national level and in the local-yokel small towns, endless bickering to determine who will come out on top. With national technical issues, they fight over common standards and start patent infringement suits and demand injunctions, all of which prevents new ideas from reaching market. But as with DVDs, even the most depraved competitors eventually realize they're ruining it for everyone by fighting endlessly over who will seize the spoils of new technology. So eventually we can look forward to a nicely rigged legal cartel situation in which service fees are extraordinarily high because there are too many fingers in the pot. At which point the new technology goes belly up and the government saves yet another corporation from bankruptcy. Viva USA.
The US government sells its services to the highest bidder, while it builds new infrastructure using the lowest bidder. This guarantees low quality in all government services and projects. With regard to the FCC, clearly it is in the hands of the (increasingly few) media corporations.
Calling King Kong....time for your shock therapy treatment...
Step on our constitution will they?
Perhaps it is time to steps on them.
Prime your fax machines and begin activities, lads!
"Do you not have anything better to do with your time than bitch and moan " By the same token, don't you have anything better to do than bitch and moan and people who demand better quality? Typical american conservative.... You may now grow up, please
"please point me to a rule"
That's not the point. Just as one doesn't spit
in public or drink beer in a church, one shouldn't
post crap writing on a regular basis
simply to appeal to teenagers. And yet it's
worse than just that. I've seen better writing
at gaming sites. No other high-tech site is this
badly edited.
In the post for this article, the author writes like an enthused teenager, not like a professional. I don't know if these clowns who post articles are actual teenagers, or people trying to write "down" to teenage level, but it's irritating. And no, it's not "slightly" interesting, this isn't a "spin" on someone else's idea, and I am not "leaning" toward an opinion. The writing simply sucks. Fix it.
I applied at Google to work as a programmer. I observed the same basic problem that seems to plague most Silicon Valley companies, and that is that Google employs too many people who just don't know what they are doing. Why? Because like most of the companies in the valley Google hires young kids with no life experience and usually college degree. These kids just an arrogant attitude and an sufficiently conservative bent to impress the dimwit managers. In short, a useless bunch of people. Programming is simply not a blue-collar job, no matter what Silicon Valley wants to believe. It's a profession and companies need to respect that.
Why should I pay money to learn how to develop for Mozilla and thereby give my programming labor away for free to a profit-making corporation that can afford to pay me?
Mozilla is not a true open source project--it's a trick to permit a corporation to exploit workers.
The license keeps control in the hands of a corporation--that should be enough indication.
Mozilla is bad for workers, bad for the public, and last time I checked it's pretty buggy as well.
I'll pass on this one!
- they have no
idea what good art is and have never
taken any courses to find out, and
- they have never
taken courses to develop their artistic
ability.
Education is essential! We need more professionals and fewer pretenders out there.Contrary to the Orwellian theme, it's clear that in the computer world, ignorance (which causes people to use Windows software) is a major liability.
Pat denials and personal attacks only show how weak your position is. Tests have shown they are dangerous. Fact. I just bought a cell phone, and it included in the manual an explanation that the microwaves transmitted are dangerous and suggests using the ear piece. Supporting fact.
In my experience, people who make a living doing security are at the moment having a field-day. This was true before 911, too.
The reason is the profound ignorance about what crackers can do, the many scary stories, the small-minded mentality of Americans in general. Did you know that America has more people in prisons and jails than China, which has maybe 4 times the population? Americans are hyper-paranoid about crime. Crimes of almost all types have been decreasing in the past ten years, but many cities have doubled their police forces recently.
In California, many public libraries now have private security guards roaming about. It's simply not necessary. But it's trendy to be paranoid.
How does this tie in with F-451? I think perhaps the novel and movie didn't cover the behind the scenes reality of the security aparatus enough. But the movie at least did depict the mindless fears of the public.
Anyway, the book is more appropriate now than ever.
If a person told me I had to fear the unknown, then told me I had to hire him to protect myself, I would call him a crook: I'd say he's with the mafia.
Today, we call these people "security".