We all discriminate. When we buy one product over a different one. When we hire one person over a different one. When we marry one person over a different one.
We as a society have determined that discriminating solely on the basis of race, gender, religion, etc, to be wrong. We have not made the same determination in relation to discriminating on the basis of being a business versus being a consumer.
You're wrong. Patent's HAVE changed. First, there are now software patents. Second, there are now business patents. Both of these are new and were NOT available at the turn of the last century.
A business patent would cover "the business of selling products out of a building." Something like that could not have been done prior to 1998 when the case of State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., 149 F.3d 1368 (1998) made business patents legal.
As a real world example of business patents we have the example of the MercExchange patents currently used against Ebay. The patents basically claim a business model where an auction takes place on a network. There is NO technology behind the patent, just a business model.
Also because of these changes, we have the aforementioned help icon patent. Once again, that never would have occurred until software patents were made valid in the 90s. In the 80s WordPerfect (or Wordstar) could have simply patented word processors killing any competition for 17 years. Now such anti-competitive behavior is possible.
Governments answer to two entities: The electorate and business. It's possible for governments to ignore what business wants if the electorate strongly wants the contrary. But in this case the electorate is utterly ignorant about the issue of software/business patents. No, it's more than ignorance, it is outright apathy. They don't know and they don't care to know.
Like I've said, I REALLY hope you guys in Europe continue the fight. It's really to your advantage. You'll be the only entity in the world where it'll be legal to create software with a help icon! In other words, you'll be able to innovate while the rest of the world will stagnate.
I agree with you. Software and business patents are so utterly anti-consumer that they should be treated as treason.
Let's face it, if similar patents would have been valid throughout history, someone would have patented making tires round. Putting rearview mirrors in cars. Selling stuff out of buildings. The assembly line certainly would have been patented.
Heck, if we go back far enough, someone would have patented the use of fire, eating food, and living in caves!
You don't get it. You're wasting your time. Business wants it. Government wants what business wants. And the vast majority of people simply don't care, and never will care.
Unfortunately, there is currently an international "rethink" on patents. Right now there is a very strong movement to make software and business patents legal and enforceable. Why? Because business loves 'em like a crack ho loves crack.
How are you going to compete when help icons are patented? When double clicking is patented? When single clicking is patented? When all of the obvious functions of a computer are patented, only non-obvious, i.e., more difficult means of operations, will be left.
Once software and business patents are valid throughout the world, technological progress will come to a standstill. The status quo will have no incentive to innovate and any new competition will be rendered illegal.
Microsoft got tough (sort of) with SP2. Plenty of software writers had to change the way they did things to work with SP2. I don't see how compelling user accounts would be any different. Sure there would be problems, but NOTHING compared to the virus/spyware problems we're facing now!
It may be nothing to you, but when 80% of all email is spam, and when legitimate emails are filtered out, and when email becomes essentially useless, nearly everyone else disagrees.
Why oh why does Windows always set up accounts as administrator by defalt? Linux doesn't. OSX doesn't. It just doesn't make sense for Windows to do it.
I got tired of cleaning out my in-laws' computer so I installed W2K and set them up with a restricted user account. Since I've done that he's been virus and spyware free.
It's such a SIMPLE solution for Microsoft to implement. Why won't they do it?! Logging in as administator now and then to install software is MUCH easier than reinstalling your OS.
I totally agree. Most people consider Microsoft an unstoppable force in the computer industry. But I see it as a fairly weak company if you look at the larger picture. Microsoft wins big in some areas but it mostly loses in everything else.
I think that's why those at Microsoft are so paranoid about competition. They know that Microsoft is built on a house of cards and the whole thing could fall at any time.
I'd love to try OSX, but even more so I love building my own systems. You just can't do that with the Mac. (You can, but it's REALLY difficult to get parts and it costs a LOT!)
Because of Product Activiation (where you have to ask permission to change hardware) I'm never going to use another Microsoft OS again. Right now I'm running Suse 9.2 on a second system and I can do about 90% of what I want to do on it. But it's that 10% that keeps me running W2k on my main system. Once I'm able to do 100%, I'll switch completely. (Luckily, I'm not into gaming that much.)
Let's face it, if you had to choose between a free car that ran on only 90% of roads or paying for a car that ran on 100% of roads, you'd buy a car.
Yeah, it's very strange. The only times I get modded flamebait is when I'm absolutely serious. I'm always shocked when it happens. But when I say something obviously ridiculous and obviously intended to flame, I get away with it.
That's funny, because Texas is one of the few states I've never been to.
Seriously, I've already admitted that my initial post was a joke. I don't have time to string a bunch of people into pointless flaming today, so I might as well throw in the towel now.
I disagree, if Liberals had their way, we'd all be tree hugging homosexuals listening to NPR and pretending to find PBS interesting.
If Muslims had their way, we'd all wear towels on our heads and kill everyone who didn't.
BTW, before this discussion gets any further, I was JOKING in my original post. The reason the government builds roads is because it has Eminent Domain, i.e., the right to take private property and pay only the reasonable cost.
Obviously, since the free market does not have that right, it would be too costly to build roads.
I just love posting some good ol' fashion flamebait now and then.
Let's see, I'd guess that toll roads make up about.0000001% of all roads. We have NONE in my state. I've only used one in my entire life. And I've been up and down the entire east cost, up and down the west cost, and nearly everywhere in between.
Let's face it, Microsoft really only makes money on Windows and Office. Nearly everything else loses money, e.g., Xbox, MSN, WebTV, etc. Or to put it another way, in reality Microsoft really fails quite often.
I personally think that Google will be around for a long time. But that's just mindless speculation combined with wishful thinking.
Slashdot Mirror
"I see clocks."
Really, I'd think that most slashdot readers whould be tech enough to either build their own or at least buy their memory from newegg.
And in a free market businesses have a right to make bad decisions. If Dell's decision to do this is a bad decision, it will eventually stop.
We all discriminate. When we buy one product over a different one. When we hire one person over a different one. When we marry one person over a different one.
We as a society have determined that discriminating solely on the basis of race, gender, religion, etc, to be wrong. We have not made the same determination in relation to discriminating on the basis of being a business versus being a consumer.
The point of business is to make profits. That's exactly what Dell is doing. What's the problem?
You're wrong. Patent's HAVE changed. First, there are now software patents. Second, there are now business patents. Both of these are new and were NOT available at the turn of the last century.
A business patent would cover "the business of selling products out of a building." Something like that could not have been done prior to 1998 when the case of State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., 149 F.3d 1368 (1998) made business patents legal.
As a real world example of business patents we have the example of the MercExchange patents currently used against Ebay. The patents basically claim a business model where an auction takes place on a network. There is NO technology behind the patent, just a business model.
Also because of these changes, we have the aforementioned help icon patent. Once again, that never would have occurred until software patents were made valid in the 90s. In the 80s WordPerfect (or Wordstar) could have simply patented word processors killing any competition for 17 years. Now such anti-competitive behavior is possible.
Patents HAVE changed.
Governments answer to two entities: The electorate and business. It's possible for governments to ignore what business wants if the electorate strongly wants the contrary. But in this case the electorate is utterly ignorant about the issue of software/business patents. No, it's more than ignorance, it is outright apathy. They don't know and they don't care to know.
Like I've said, I REALLY hope you guys in Europe continue the fight. It's really to your advantage. You'll be the only entity in the world where it'll be legal to create software with a help icon! In other words, you'll be able to innovate while the rest of the world will stagnate.
But then again, our prime directive is profit at any cost.
I agree with you. Software and business patents are so utterly anti-consumer that they should be treated as treason.
Let's face it, if similar patents would have been valid throughout history, someone would have patented making tires round. Putting rearview mirrors in cars. Selling stuff out of buildings. The assembly line certainly would have been patented.
Heck, if we go back far enough, someone would have patented the use of fire, eating food, and living in caves!
I certainly hope you're right. But big business will never back down on this issue. It's not like they're going to suddenly give up some day.
You don't get it. You're wasting your time. Business wants it. Government wants what business wants. And the vast majority of people simply don't care, and never will care.
Unfortunately, there is currently an international "rethink" on patents. Right now there is a very strong movement to make software and business patents legal and enforceable. Why? Because business loves 'em like a crack ho loves crack.
How are you going to compete when help icons are patented? When double clicking is patented? When single clicking is patented? When all of the obvious functions of a computer are patented, only non-obvious, i.e., more difficult means of operations, will be left.
Once software and business patents are valid throughout the world, technological progress will come to a standstill. The status quo will have no incentive to innovate and any new competition will be rendered illegal.
Microsoft got tough (sort of) with SP2. Plenty of software writers had to change the way they did things to work with SP2. I don't see how compelling user accounts would be any different. Sure there would be problems, but NOTHING compared to the virus/spyware problems we're facing now!
All those Netflix movies I've burned will essentially be worthless!
It may be nothing to you, but when 80% of all email is spam, and when legitimate emails are filtered out, and when email becomes essentially useless, nearly everyone else disagrees.
Why oh why does Windows always set up accounts as administrator by defalt? Linux doesn't. OSX doesn't. It just doesn't make sense for Windows to do it.
I got tired of cleaning out my in-laws' computer so I installed W2K and set them up with a restricted user account. Since I've done that he's been virus and spyware free.
It's such a SIMPLE solution for Microsoft to implement. Why won't they do it?! Logging in as administator now and then to install software is MUCH easier than reinstalling your OS.
I totally agree. Most people consider Microsoft an unstoppable force in the computer industry. But I see it as a fairly weak company if you look at the larger picture. Microsoft wins big in some areas but it mostly loses in everything else.
I think that's why those at Microsoft are so paranoid about competition. They know that Microsoft is built on a house of cards and the whole thing could fall at any time.
Paul W.S. Anderson will produce the movie?
I'd love to try OSX, but even more so I love building my own systems. You just can't do that with the Mac. (You can, but it's REALLY difficult to get parts and it costs a LOT!)
Because of Product Activiation (where you have to ask permission to change hardware) I'm never going to use another Microsoft OS again. Right now I'm running Suse 9.2 on a second system and I can do about 90% of what I want to do on it. But it's that 10% that keeps me running W2k on my main system. Once I'm able to do 100%, I'll switch completely. (Luckily, I'm not into gaming that much.)
Let's face it, if you had to choose between a free car that ran on only 90% of roads or paying for a car that ran on 100% of roads, you'd buy a car.
Yeah, it's very strange. The only times I get modded flamebait is when I'm absolutely serious. I'm always shocked when it happens. But when I say something obviously ridiculous and obviously intended to flame, I get away with it.
That's funny, because Texas is one of the few states I've never been to.
Seriously, I've already admitted that my initial post was a joke. I don't have time to string a bunch of people into pointless flaming today, so I might as well throw in the towel now.
I disagree, if Liberals had their way, we'd all be tree hugging homosexuals listening to NPR and pretending to find PBS interesting.
If Muslims had their way, we'd all wear towels on our heads and kill everyone who didn't.
BTW, before this discussion gets any further, I was JOKING in my original post. The reason the government builds roads is because it has Eminent Domain, i.e., the right to take private property and pay only the reasonable cost.
Obviously, since the free market does not have that right, it would be too costly to build roads.
I just love posting some good ol' fashion flamebait now and then.
Let's see, I'd guess that toll roads make up about .0000001% of all roads. We have NONE in my state. I've only used one in my entire life. And I've been up and down the entire east cost, up and down the west cost, and nearly everywhere in between.
So exactly what is your point?
We would have no roads, because if they market requird roads, it would build roads.
Will it? I have no friggin' idea!
Let's face it, Microsoft really only makes money on Windows and Office. Nearly everything else loses money, e.g., Xbox, MSN, WebTV, etc. Or to put it another way, in reality Microsoft really fails quite often.
I personally think that Google will be around for a long time. But that's just mindless speculation combined with wishful thinking.