Both Trent and John are right, but it is important to see this trend in almost every aspect of technology!
Think about almost everything you consider revolutionary in technology in the last, say, 50 years:
The FAX machine was revolutionary, not the multi-function fax-printer-copier...
The cell phone was revolutionary, not the downloadable ring tones...
The Palm Pilot was revolutionary (OK, maybe the Apple Newton...), not the WinCE machine that can run excel...
Everything in technology seems to start very simple (and these are the true revolutionaries) and then grow complicated to the point where we cannot use them anymore! How many among us/. readers actually even know EVERYTHING our cell phones can do???
With all this said, I love all this gizmos, and I am totally adicted to them... The more intricacies and complexities a device/game/application/book/etc. has, the more I want to use it! But we have to see that true change only comes from simple and basic concepts, and that games and other products could, and should, be designed with enough complexity to keep many minds busy, but also in a way to allow somebody who does not want to go through the complexities (or cannot) to have a very enjoyable experience!
In short, technologist should be working to make games, SW, devices, books, etc. simpler and better, and therefore accessible to more people.
This is true, IBM holds millions of patents, and probably everybody out there is infringing many of them.
However, IBM has a defensive policy when it comes to lawsuits. That means they will only bring a patent infringement lawsuit to someone as means to defending from other lawsuit (like they are doing in their countersuit of SCO).
I know of cases of other companies infringing IBM patents and costing them business (although I'll admit not a significant amount of business on IBM standards) yet they will not sue them unless they are sued by them first.
I don't think they ever want to alienate the world against them (and also starting the USPTO reviewing their desicions) by starting a patent war against anybody.
Slashdot Mirror
Both Trent and John are right, but it is important to see this trend in almost every aspect of technology!
/. readers actually even know EVERYTHING our cell phones can do???
Think about almost everything you consider revolutionary in technology in the last, say, 50 years:
The FAX machine was revolutionary, not the multi-function fax-printer-copier...
The cell phone was revolutionary, not the downloadable ring tones...
The Palm Pilot was revolutionary (OK, maybe the Apple Newton...), not the WinCE machine that can run excel...
Everything in technology seems to start very simple (and these are the true revolutionaries) and then grow complicated to the point where we cannot use them anymore! How many among us
With all this said, I love all this gizmos, and I am totally adicted to them... The more intricacies and complexities a device/game/application/book/etc. has, the more I want to use it! But we have to see that true change only comes from simple and basic concepts, and that games and other products could, and should, be designed with enough complexity to keep many minds busy, but also in a way to allow somebody who does not want to go through the complexities (or cannot) to have a very enjoyable experience!
In short, technologist should be working to make games, SW, devices, books, etc. simpler and better, and therefore accessible to more people.
This is true, IBM holds millions of patents, and probably everybody out there is infringing many of them. However, IBM has a defensive policy when it comes to lawsuits. That means they will only bring a patent infringement lawsuit to someone as means to defending from other lawsuit (like they are doing in their countersuit of SCO). I know of cases of other companies infringing IBM patents and costing them business (although I'll admit not a significant amount of business on IBM standards) yet they will not sue them unless they are sued by them first. I don't think they ever want to alienate the world against them (and also starting the USPTO reviewing their desicions) by starting a patent war against anybody.