Yes, trademarks are meant for commerce, and the web is not a commercial thing, but a general communication medium.
OK, but trademark law applies to other communication mediums such as paper, TV, etc. The internet is unbelievably cool, but it is hardly the first "general communication medium".
I'm not sure what you meant...you have a problem with TLDs?
Not at all. I was using "p2p" as an example because that is what the distributed DNS system uses.
If a name is important enough for a company, they will buy it from its owner.
You are describing the existing system. The only time trademark interferes with this in the current system is when someone tries to use a trademark in commerce. I could set up a site called "microsoft_sucks.com" and be just fine. But if I started selling software from that site, then I would probably lose a trademark case.
But the biggest problem with that is that it gives companies an unfair advantage as they are the ones controlling the majority of trademarks.
I don't know that I agree that this is a problem. Trademarks are meant for commerce - it makes sense that companies would hold most of them. Under the current system, an apple-selling collective could have acquired apple.com and used it for selling apples. Or Apple Records could have acquired apple.com. Or just a squatter who posts pictures of apples. Whatever. So long as you don't start selling computers, phones, and such, you are probably OK. Type nissan.com for example (though the poor bastard had to fight hard to keep that one).
My concern is where someone acquires "microsoft.p2p" and then starts selling software. Or "bankofamerica.p2p" and starts offering banking. It's confusing and unnecessary, and only aids fraudsters - not companies or consumers.
Maybe he's confusing it with being part of the British Monarchy? But I guess just because the Queen is the head of religion in the UK doesn't make her the head of religion in Canada - only the head of state.
Trademarks should not determine who gets a domain name.
I don't think it is a helpful DNS system that doesn't incorporate trademark law. The only people it helps are domain squatters. Trademark certainly helps companies, but it also helps consumers. It's not desirable to have some random guy selling software with the domain name Microsoft.com just because he got to it first. I mean, we'd all learn to live with it, but I certainly don't see any system without trademark protections gaining ground on traditional DNS. Who the heck would adopt it? Certainly not any companies.
There's over a hundred years of trademark law to handle these disputes, and in general it works well. Apple.com could have gone to The Apple Growers Co-Op or some such if they got there first, but applecomputer.com is a clear trademark. This is a solved problem, with only a smattering of cases that cause real issues (Nissan being one).
Because, with spending per pupil among the highest in the world, insufficient spending is what is wrong with our schools. If only we wouldn't spend so much on the big, bad military, we'd have world-class schools!
Of course, you wouldn't come right out and say that - it's just as wing-nutty as saying that the government has no place running social programs. It totally ignores the facts. Instead you imply that cutting the military might somehow divert money toward the schools. Which implies that the schools need more money to make them better.
It would be beautiful in it's elegance if it wasn't so downright intentionally misleading.
I know they are the "pirate party", but there needs to be some way to protect trademarks. As much as I like the dark underbelly of the internet, I also like being able to use online banking and such without having to remember something like the_REAL_bank_of_america.com
Anyone who's spent any time around here ought to know the difference between the two by now.
I'm going to have to call you out on that... anyone who has spent any time around here ought to know that a simple pedantic correction is going to lead to a flame war over pedantry.:)
Seriously, look at the thread after Frosty Piss's comment - the whole thread is poisoned. The only comments with any insight whatsoever are quickly reverted back to name calling.
Let me ask you, what point was he making, other than "you are wrong"? He didn't disagree or agree with the original post, and his correction made no contribution to the points raised in the original post (specifically, this is a symptom of a larger problem). Further, if you look at Frosty Piss's only other contribution to this story's comments, it is exactly the same correction.
Blocking error prevents conversations from drifting into wrongness.
I'm fine with that. But Frosty Piss didn't do that - he just made what seems like a pedantic remark. A useful correction would make at least a small effort to state why the correction was important.
There's nothing wrong with being correct, and there's nothing wrong with correcting people. However, when Frosty Piss posted his correction, he added nothing new to the conversation other than a correction. The discussion devolved into an argument over semantics.
I'm waiting to hear from the fiscal conservatives who want to cancel the space program and asteroid-hunting programs because the Federal Government shouldn't be spending taxpayer money on such useless endeavors.
Usually those wingnuts cue a response from the other wingnuts complaining about how many schools we could build with the military budget.
Looping is the term you are looking for - sorry, I had forgotten it myself!
The other (related) term is "multi-age class", and there are studies which support that as well.
I was originally introduced to the concept on NPR, but I can't find it now. I'd love to hear how your dad views it, both as an educator and as a union leader.
As a parent I love the concept, but worry that a single bad teacher could do a lot more damage - not just a single wasted year, but an entire wasted class! So obviously the change would need to include changes in teacher evaluation/training/standards.
Well, they didn't say "exclusively American". We have a very strong DIY car culture in this country, if only because we have so many cars per capita and so many people. "Hacking" cars is a very American trait IMHO.
You linked to the second prototype. The introduction prototype looked like this. Note that this is about 9 months before the iPad came out.
Now I'll grant you that by that time they had the iPhone to inspire them, but it is definitely incorrect to say that the iPad was the first high-profile tablet to look like that. I can't find a phone that looked as clean as the iPhone prior to it's introduction, and the iPad really just looks like a giant iPhone.
LOL, I consider myself an Excel power user and I've never seen the indents before:)
Yes, being tied to a single vendor/person for your software needs kind of sucks. That's my situation with Excel as well. I'd love to move stuff over to OO.org/LibreOffice - but everyone at work always bitches when I do something in OO.org (we have a contract with MS anyway, so it doesn't even save money).
not allowing people to take their ball and go home.
That's exactly what happens now - rich people take their kids out of public school and send them to private school. Vouchers give this ability to lower income people. But you have to be careful with special needs kids, and you can't use vouchers in areas that won't support more than one (successful) school. How is competition supposed to work without competition?
more investment,
You have to be kidding. Spending at schools is already over-the-top. You could send my kindergartener to college for what my town spends on her education. I think the nationwide average is $10,000/year. That's way up there on the list in terms of what other countries spend on education (I think we are number 3?), yet our performance is very poor compared with those same countries. I'm all for spending on education, but the current state of education is proof that simply throwing more money at the problem won't fix it.
True - parents will always be more important than teachers.
Still, there are some new and some proven strategies for dealing with kids from broken homes. One very interesting study shows that if you keep a group of disadvantaged students with the same teacher as they progress through the grades they do much better - it is the one constant and reliable thing in their lives. Obviously for this to work the teacher needs to be very good and also needs to be around for a few years. I wonder how unions view this concept?
Slashdot Mirror
They only just shut off LORAN last year.
Yes, trademarks are meant for commerce, and the web is not a commercial thing, but a general communication medium.
OK, but trademark law applies to other communication mediums such as paper, TV, etc. The internet is unbelievably cool, but it is hardly the first "general communication medium".
I'm not sure what you meant...you have a problem with TLDs?
Not at all. I was using "p2p" as an example because that is what the distributed DNS system uses.
If a name is important enough for a company, they will buy it from its owner.
You are describing the existing system. The only time trademark interferes with this in the current system is when someone tries to use a trademark in commerce. I could set up a site called "microsoft_sucks.com" and be just fine. But if I started selling software from that site, then I would probably lose a trademark case.
But the biggest problem with that is that it gives companies an unfair advantage as they are the ones controlling the majority of trademarks.
I don't know that I agree that this is a problem. Trademarks are meant for commerce - it makes sense that companies would hold most of them. Under the current system, an apple-selling collective could have acquired apple.com and used it for selling apples. Or Apple Records could have acquired apple.com. Or just a squatter who posts pictures of apples. Whatever. So long as you don't start selling computers, phones, and such, you are probably OK. Type nissan.com for example (though the poor bastard had to fight hard to keep that one).
My concern is where someone acquires "microsoft.p2p" and then starts selling software. Or "bankofamerica.p2p" and starts offering banking. It's confusing and unnecessary, and only aids fraudsters - not companies or consumers.
Also getting drunk and peeing in public: indecent exposure. Or being a teenager and sexting. Crazy laws.
Maybe he's confusing it with being part of the British Monarchy? But I guess just because the Queen is the head of religion in the UK doesn't make her the head of religion in Canada - only the head of state.
Trademarks should not determine who gets a domain name.
I don't think it is a helpful DNS system that doesn't incorporate trademark law. The only people it helps are domain squatters. Trademark certainly helps companies, but it also helps consumers. It's not desirable to have some random guy selling software with the domain name Microsoft.com just because he got to it first. I mean, we'd all learn to live with it, but I certainly don't see any system without trademark protections gaining ground on traditional DNS. Who the heck would adopt it? Certainly not any companies.
There's over a hundred years of trademark law to handle these disputes, and in general it works well. Apple.com could have gone to The Apple Growers Co-Op or some such if they got there first, but applecomputer.com is a clear trademark. This is a solved problem, with only a smattering of cases that cause real issues (Nissan being one).
Because, with spending per pupil among the highest in the world, insufficient spending is what is wrong with our schools. If only we wouldn't spend so much on the big, bad military, we'd have world-class schools!
Of course, you wouldn't come right out and say that - it's just as wing-nutty as saying that the government has no place running social programs. It totally ignores the facts. Instead you imply that cutting the military might somehow divert money toward the schools. Which implies that the schools need more money to make them better.
It would be beautiful in it's elegance if it wasn't so downright intentionally misleading.
I know they are the "pirate party", but there needs to be some way to protect trademarks. As much as I like the dark underbelly of the internet, I also like being able to use online banking and such without having to remember something like the_REAL_bank_of_america.com
I like it. All the efficiency of government and all the accountability of the military!
Anyone who's spent any time around here ought to know the difference between the two by now.
I'm going to have to call you out on that... anyone who has spent any time around here ought to know that a simple pedantic correction is going to lead to a flame war over pedantry. :)
Seriously, look at the thread after Frosty Piss's comment - the whole thread is poisoned. The only comments with any insight whatsoever are quickly reverted back to name calling.
Let me ask you, what point was he making, other than "you are wrong"? He didn't disagree or agree with the original post, and his correction made no contribution to the points raised in the original post (specifically, this is a symptom of a larger problem). Further, if you look at Frosty Piss's only other contribution to this story's comments, it is exactly the same correction.
Blocking error prevents conversations from drifting into wrongness.
I'm fine with that. But Frosty Piss didn't do that - he just made what seems like a pedantic remark. A useful correction would make at least a small effort to state why the correction was important.
Well, excuse us for wanting to be correct.
There's nothing wrong with being correct, and there's nothing wrong with correcting people. However, when Frosty Piss posted his correction, he added nothing new to the conversation other than a correction. The discussion devolved into an argument over semantics.
I'm waiting to hear from the fiscal conservatives who want to cancel the space program and asteroid-hunting programs because the Federal Government shouldn't be spending taxpayer money on such useless endeavors.
Usually those wingnuts cue a response from the other wingnuts complaining about how many schools we could build with the military budget.
Looping is the term you are looking for - sorry, I had forgotten it myself!
The other (related) term is "multi-age class", and there are studies which support that as well.
I was originally introduced to the concept on NPR, but I can't find it now. I'd love to hear how your dad views it, both as an educator and as a union leader.
As a parent I love the concept, but worry that a single bad teacher could do a lot more damage - not just a single wasted year, but an entire wasted class! So obviously the change would need to include changes in teacher evaluation/training/standards.
My dad's a teacher and president of a teacher's union -- I suppose I could ask him.
He would indeed be informative :)
Oh pish. If Pi = 1, and 1*1=1, then Pi*Pi = 1*1 = 1!
Given that Pi never ends
The summary says he's Japanese, but maybe he's from Missouri?
Well, they didn't say "exclusively American". We have a very strong DIY car culture in this country, if only because we have so many cars per capita and so many people. "Hacking" cars is a very American trait IMHO.
Then you can just ImpoundBreak it.
You linked to the second prototype. The introduction prototype looked like this. Note that this is about 9 months before the iPad came out.
Now I'll grant you that by that time they had the iPhone to inspire them, but it is definitely incorrect to say that the iPad was the first high-profile tablet to look like that. I can't find a phone that looked as clean as the iPhone prior to it's introduction, and the iPad really just looks like a giant iPhone.
It's not that I disagree with your sentiment - but your timeline is off. Google for "Crunchpad" or "JooJoo". These came out a year before the iPad.
LOL, I consider myself an Excel power user and I've never seen the indents before :)
Yes, being tied to a single vendor/person for your software needs kind of sucks. That's my situation with Excel as well. I'd love to move stuff over to OO.org/LibreOffice - but everyone at work always bitches when I do something in OO.org (we have a contract with MS anyway, so it doesn't even save money).
not allowing people to take their ball and go home.
That's exactly what happens now - rich people take their kids out of public school and send them to private school. Vouchers give this ability to lower income people. But you have to be careful with special needs kids, and you can't use vouchers in areas that won't support more than one (successful) school. How is competition supposed to work without competition?
more investment,
You have to be kidding. Spending at schools is already over-the-top. You could send my kindergartener to college for what my town spends on her education. I think the nationwide average is $10,000/year. That's way up there on the list in terms of what other countries spend on education (I think we are number 3?), yet our performance is very poor compared with those same countries. I'm all for spending on education, but the current state of education is proof that simply throwing more money at the problem won't fix it.
True - parents will always be more important than teachers.
Still, there are some new and some proven strategies for dealing with kids from broken homes. One very interesting study shows that if you keep a group of disadvantaged students with the same teacher as they progress through the grades they do much better - it is the one constant and reliable thing in their lives. Obviously for this to work the teacher needs to be very good and also needs to be around for a few years. I wonder how unions view this concept?