"The truth of the matter, as the article reveals, is that it's people like these that caused so many problems for our friends at Valve and are responsible for most of the other irritating leaks of software. "
"Hopefully Microsoft will single-handedly make a mockery of the patent system (more specifically software patents) which will force the system to be reviewed sooner, and maybe some positive changes can come to it."
Heh. Your favorite corps are making a mockery of it as well. Pity that Slashdot doesn't report other stupid patents. IBM, Palm, Apple, all have to have something that should have been booted out.
"Top poster said there should only be one browser. "
No, he didn't. If you actually understood what he said instead of arguing with what he didn't say, you'd find you're both pretty much on the same side. Your goal here is to argue, not to discuss.
"But even with that said, you'll note that of the handful of browsers out there most use Gecko or KHTML. So they share backend code, which is good, but can do different things for the user, which is... Oh, ya, good."
"You shouldn't have to pay any royalties if you don't use Fraunhofer algorithms or code."
You have to pay royalties if you include an MP3 encoder (not decoder) with your software. I'm not sure if you mean "shouldn't" as in "the license doesn't say that" or if you mean it like "patents shouldn't be used like that". If you mean the latter, then I'm curious how you think those dudes should fund their research into stuff like that.
"If you don't know why they need to run it, then how can you suggest they unplug it?"
I want to know why somebody with a mod point thought a suggestion that completely disables the functionality of his devices would be an 'interesting' solution.
"What does Star Wars have to do with science fiction?"
*Sigh*
Never mind that it's set in space and takes place on other planets, let's debate whether it's sci-fi or not! Let's not stop until women actually scream when they run away from us!
>Oh, your doctor called. >He says your new sense of humor is ready.
Bob Saget, Carrot Top, Jay Leno, Paulie Shore, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Yahoo Serious, and the entire writing staff for Dharma and Greg called: You're not funny.
Somebody needs to reread parent post and reconsider that flamebait mod. He makes a couple of good points. Criticism of Linux isn't automatically flamebait even though some are a little too uppity over the topic.
"What the public wants now is quality, better reception, and higher reliability."
Quality? Nope, the quality is 'good enough'. That's not because consumers are stupid, it's because a phone isn't worth $600 just because it can last 20 years.
Better reception? The phone manufacturers have little to do with that. More towers need to be placed.
Reliability? I'll give you partial credit for that. Better battery life is okay. There's a point of diminishing returns, though. People actually do want cameras on their phones. People actually do want to play games on their phone. People actually do want MP3 ringtones on their phones. People actually want their phones to be cool, not just functional. Don't believe me? Go sit down at a Cingular store for half an hour. Reliability is a distant 3rd compared to "What am I getting with my $200 purchase?"
It's really cool to complain about cell phones lately. For some reason, though, nobody seems to understand that people actually have to buy these phones to make them popular. Otherwise, the units without the nifty features at much cheaper prices would be far more popular. They're not. Why? Because a cellular phone has become an entertainment device as well as a communications device. Who cares if the games aren't Game Boy quality? Who carries their Game Boy around 24/7? Who cares if the digital camera is only 640 by 480? Who carries their $500 camera around 24/7? Who cares if the appointment book is a bit difficult to enter new memos into? Who carries their $500 PDA around 24/7? Who carries ALL this stuff 24/7?
I can't believe that the self proclaimed 'nerds' don't understand the value. It's like we're all minimalists all the sudden. Funny what earning karma can turn ppl into.
"This is not innovation, this is jumping on a virtual land grab offered by the patent office."
I didn't call that innovation. Irrelevent to my point, anyway. If MS owns a 'virtual land grab' patent, it's easy enough to fight by coming up with something else.
q.) Why did Microsoft think this was patentable?
a.) Pocket PCs have little real-estate and are typically operated with one hand.
q.) How do we get similar functionality without violating the patent?
a.) Sony's solution was a form of jog dial. Apple's iPod has a unique interface in that area, too. Maybe we should sit down and brainstorm some ideas.
q.) What if I can't think of anything?
a.) Then we'll complain on Slashdot how evil Microsoft is. We'll take comfort while everybody around us nods their heads in agreement.
"Could parent or parent's moderator please explain, how the hell it is supposed to affect Apple's bottom line..."
It doesn't have to affect their bottom line, it only has to make them nervous. And since there's money at stake, there is reason to think they might overreact whether it could pratically hurt them or not.
Prior art doesn't come along until somebody actually challenges MS's patents. Even though the patent office grants some questionable patents, it's still tough to imagine that there's a strong system in place that can identify prior art in most cases. Otherwise, the workload of these guys would rise an order of magnitude every year.
Slashdot Mirror
"The truth of the matter, as the article reveals, is that it's people like these that caused so many problems for our friends at Valve and are responsible for most of the other irritating leaks of software. "
Too bad Valve is punishing you for it.
Not too bad actually. Got a little busy with work, but can't complain. Having a good holiday season?
"If someone is known to be immoral by their own standards of morality, the veracity (and intent) of anything they say is in question."
If somebody hasn't experienced what they're going on about, then anything they say is in question.
"No one in their right mind would take moral advice from people known to be (currently) immoral."
Ignoring somebody's advice derived from experience is moronic. I would advise you not to be close minded simply for the sake of argument.
Attacking an example does not disprove a point.
"Who will set the exchange rates for those community currencies that aren't tied to a measure of time or to the US dollar?"
I selflessly volunteer.
'and you think it's better? You are crazy, sorry."
After that little incident with Eolas, I'm not the least bit surprised at MS for patenting this stuff.
"Hopefully Microsoft will single-handedly make a mockery of the patent system (more specifically software patents) which will force the system to be reviewed sooner, and maybe some positive changes can come to it."
Heh. Your favorite corps are making a mockery of it as well. Pity that Slashdot doesn't report other stupid patents. IBM, Palm, Apple, all have to have something that should have been booted out.
"Why would someone pay $40 for a piece of hardware and then not use it?"
Because they didn't enjoy it?
"Top poster said there should only be one browser. "
No, he didn't. If you actually understood what he said instead of arguing with what he didn't say, you'd find you're both pretty much on the same side. Your goal here is to argue, not to discuss.
"But even with that said, you'll note that of the handful of browsers out there most use Gecko or KHTML. So they share backend code, which is good, but can do different things for the user, which is... Oh, ya, good."
I like how you're agreeing in a disagreeing tone.
"You shouldn't have to pay any royalties if you don't use Fraunhofer algorithms or code."
You have to pay royalties if you include an MP3 encoder (not decoder) with your software. I'm not sure if you mean "shouldn't" as in "the license doesn't say that" or if you mean it like "patents shouldn't be used like that". If you mean the latter, then I'm curious how you think those dudes should fund their research into stuff like that.
"MP3 encoding has been intentionally crippled to force the users to encode in WMA"
Or it was to save on royalties that MS would have to pay for every single copy of Windows sold or Media Player that's downloaded.
""Slashdot provides news articles 24 hours a day 364 days a year, but I won't subscribe because of the occasional dupe. I'm righteous!"
Oh wow! Somebody finally took April Fool's day into account!
"If you don't know why they need to run it, then how can you suggest they unplug it?"
I want to know why somebody with a mod point thought a suggestion that completely disables the functionality of his devices would be an 'interesting' solution.
And that made it okay to jump his ass about it?
Sorry, but that was nitpicky and childish. NG f'd up, that doesn't mean FF didn't.
If there was a such thing as grow up juice, I'd buy a round for everybody involved in this thread.
"What does Star Wars have to do with science fiction?"
*Sigh*
Never mind that it's set in space and takes place on other planets, let's debate whether it's sci-fi or not! Let's not stop until women actually scream when they run away from us!
>Oh, your doctor called.
>He says your new sense of humor is ready.
Bob Saget, Carrot Top, Jay Leno, Paulie Shore, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Yahoo Serious, and the entire writing staff for Dharma and Greg called: You're not funny.
Somebody needs to reread parent post and reconsider that flamebait mod. He makes a couple of good points. Criticism of Linux isn't automatically flamebait even though some are a little too uppity over the topic.
"Is that a router in your pocket Or are you happy to see me?"
.RAR.
Yeah, mod that up. These jokes are so
"What the public wants now is quality, better reception, and higher reliability."
Quality? Nope, the quality is 'good enough'. That's not because consumers are stupid, it's because a phone isn't worth $600 just because it can last 20 years.
Better reception? The phone manufacturers have little to do with that. More towers need to be placed.
Reliability? I'll give you partial credit for that. Better battery life is okay. There's a point of diminishing returns, though. People actually do want cameras on their phones. People actually do want to play games on their phone. People actually do want MP3 ringtones on their phones. People actually want their phones to be cool, not just functional. Don't believe me? Go sit down at a Cingular store for half an hour. Reliability is a distant 3rd compared to "What am I getting with my $200 purchase?"
It's really cool to complain about cell phones lately. For some reason, though, nobody seems to understand that people actually have to buy these phones to make them popular. Otherwise, the units without the nifty features at much cheaper prices would be far more popular. They're not. Why? Because a cellular phone has become an entertainment device as well as a communications device. Who cares if the games aren't Game Boy quality? Who carries their Game Boy around 24/7? Who cares if the digital camera is only 640 by 480? Who carries their $500 camera around 24/7? Who cares if the appointment book is a bit difficult to enter new memos into? Who carries their $500 PDA around 24/7? Who carries ALL this stuff 24/7?
I can't believe that the self proclaimed 'nerds' don't understand the value. It's like we're all minimalists all the sudden. Funny what earning karma can turn ppl into.
"This is not innovation, this is jumping on a virtual land grab offered by the patent office."
I didn't call that innovation. Irrelevent to my point, anyway. If MS owns a 'virtual land grab' patent, it's easy enough to fight by coming up with something else.
q.) Why did Microsoft think this was patentable?
a.) Pocket PCs have little real-estate and are typically operated with one hand.
q.) How do we get similar functionality without violating the patent?
a.) Sony's solution was a form of jog dial. Apple's iPod has a unique interface in that area, too. Maybe we should sit down and brainstorm some ideas.
q.) What if I can't think of anything?
a.) Then we'll complain on Slashdot how evil Microsoft is. We'll take comfort while everybody around us nods their heads in agreement.
"Could parent or parent's moderator please explain, how the hell it is supposed to affect Apple's bottom line..."
It doesn't have to affect their bottom line, it only has to make them nervous. And since there's money at stake, there is reason to think they might overreact whether it could pratically hurt them or not.
" Apple haven't sued Codeweavers over QuickTime under GNU/Linux so why would they do it over this?
"
Because Apple is making a significant amount of money out of it?
"what about prior art??? "
Prior art doesn't come along until somebody actually challenges MS's patents. Even though the patent office grants some questionable patents, it's still tough to imagine that there's a strong system in place that can identify prior art in most cases. Otherwise, the workload of these guys would rise an order of magnitude every year.