I agree with much of Jonathan's article, but I think that there is a fallacious assumption at the core of this article. In the last 5 years I've helped thousands of clients build customized knowledge desktops and I have some bad news to report; it is the rare person who really knows what it is he or she wants to know about. One of the biggest reasons persons are unable to find news or web content that is relevant to them is that they are **unable to articulate** what it is that they want to know about. This is the leading reason Dialog searches fail, why Altavista searches fail, & why so many electronic news and information services feel less than satisfactory.
The patent is focused on remote access of formatting information, including display data. If this is enforceable against ISPs then it is equally enforceable against software developers who have created Operating System capable of obtaining formatting information from remote locations.
Scipher is going to have a very hard time with this.
The patent is really focused on such things as display characteristics fully as much as location or a remote hard drive or other remote data storage system reachable over phonme lines.
If this is enforceable against ISP or other remote data storage sites, it seems just as enforceable against software developers (Microsoft? Sun?) who have developed operating systems to allow access of formatting information from remote sites. Jack
Last week I posted an article on andovernews http://www.andovernews.com/cgi-bin/news_column.p l?543 that may be of some interest to anyone trying to figure out who to contact at Mattel about dumping CP.
The board member most likely to be responsive to thoughtful, well crafted letters is Mark Wiles, the CEO of the Times Mirror Company. He is likely to be the best person inside Mattel to argue the relevant issues of intellectual freedom. I posted contact information on Andovernews.
The other relevant organization within Mattel is called MIMCO. It's a internal ethics and standards organization inside the company, and one with real teeth. Dr. Prakash Sethi, the anti-apartheid activist, and Professor Murray Weidenbaum of Washington University are prominent members. Again, contact information is included in the article.
I plead with you all to make sure that your notes are thoughtful and well considered. I'm confident they will be heard.
I guess it must be fairly obvious that what y'all read was a badly muffed attempt at a hose job. If you've ever read "A Modest Proposal" by Swift you'll know what I'm talking about.
Yeah mixing Linux and Unix together and calling them the equivalent of dog-poopie was intentionally inflammatory. But that's not really smart or professonal, or even grown-up. Nor was an airy dismissal of the whole convoluted history of the various forks of Unix in two incorrect sentences (which were supposed to be funny -- oops).
Same with the Microsoft comment (If anybody thought that was seriuous - heaven help us)
However, the grabbing of the erroneous wire service story that ran the word Million instead of the word thousand when mentioning RedHats losses was just plain stupid on my part. I've written straight articles warning people against doing that sort of thing, and subjecting wire service copy to common sense review, or at last waiting until the second rev of the story shows up before jumping in with both feet.
Do me a favor, call off the dogs (or penguins if you prefer) In any case this wasn't Andover's fault it was mine. Yeah, I was trying to stick a needle in everyone's eye, but I've also got an obligation to the facts.
Jack Bryar (trying to be outrageous does not excuse not being accurate)
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with much of Jonathan's article, but I think that there is a fallacious assumption at the core of this article. In the last 5 years I've helped thousands of clients build customized knowledge desktops and I have some bad news to report; it is the rare person who really knows what it is he or she wants to know about. One of the biggest reasons persons are unable to find news or web content that is relevant to them is that they are **unable to articulate** what it is that they want to know about. This is the leading reason Dialog searches fail, why Altavista searches fail, & why so many electronic news and information services feel less than satisfactory.
Lost a line here somehow...
The patent is focused on remote access of formatting information, including display data.
If this is enforceable against ISPs then it is equally enforceable against software developers who have created Operating System capable of obtaining formatting information from remote locations.
Scipher is going to have a very hard time with this.
The patent is really focused on such things as display characteristics fully as much as location or a remote hard drive or other remote data storage system reachable over phonme lines.
If this is enforceable against ISP or other remote data storage sites, it seems just as enforceable against software developers (Microsoft? Sun?) who have developed operating systems to allow access of formatting information from remote sites.
Jack
Last week I posted an article on andovernewsp l?543 that may be of some interest to anyone trying to figure out who to contact at Mattel about dumping CP.
http://www.andovernews.com/cgi-bin/news_column.
The board member most likely to be responsive to thoughtful, well crafted letters is Mark Wiles, the CEO of the Times Mirror Company. He is likely to be the best person inside Mattel to argue the relevant issues of intellectual freedom. I posted contact information on Andovernews.
The other relevant organization within Mattel is called MIMCO. It's a internal ethics and standards organization inside the company, and one with real teeth. Dr. Prakash Sethi, the anti-apartheid activist, and Professor Murray Weidenbaum of Washington University are prominent members. Again, contact information is included in the article.
I plead with you all to make sure that your notes are thoughtful and well considered. I'm confident they will be heard.
Jack Bryar
Ok Ok.....
I guess it must be fairly obvious that what y'all read was a badly muffed attempt at a hose job. If you've ever read "A Modest Proposal" by Swift you'll know what I'm talking about.
Yeah mixing Linux and Unix together and calling them the equivalent of dog-poopie was intentionally inflammatory. But that's not really smart or professonal, or even grown-up. Nor was an airy dismissal of the whole convoluted history of the various forks of Unix in two incorrect sentences (which were supposed to be funny -- oops).
Same with the Microsoft comment (If anybody thought that was seriuous - heaven help us)
However, the grabbing of the erroneous wire service story that ran the word Million instead of the word thousand when mentioning RedHats losses was just plain stupid on my part. I've written straight articles warning people against doing that sort of thing, and subjecting wire service copy to common sense review, or at last waiting until the second rev of the story shows up before jumping in with both feet.
Do me a favor, call off the dogs (or penguins if you prefer) In any case this wasn't Andover's fault it was mine. Yeah, I was trying to stick a needle in everyone's eye, but I've also got an obligation to the facts.
Jack Bryar
(trying to be outrageous does not excuse not being accurate)