I have to disagree most strongly. I am a citizen and I have rights. Calling me a consumer in its place is degrading. Citizens have the constitution backing up their rights. Consumers have Ralph Nader. Meaning no offence to Mr. Nader but that is a HUGE difference.
I suppose we can just agree to disagree about this but I find it highly objectionable to be counted as a consumer when legal matters are at issue. I would prefer the courts not consider the value of my spendng when deciding the fate of my rights.
Why should corporate America have to suffer but the government not?
I don't mean to split hairs (and this may well be what you meant) but this statement, I believe, is part of the problem we are having in the US today. What we should be asking is:
Why should American citizens have to suffer but the government not?
Once we degrade ourselves to the level of Corporations or Consumers, it becomes much easier for the government (or anyone else) to take away our rights. We are all citizens, in corporations, in the government, as small business owners, and on welfare and that is where our rights reside, in our citizenship (and in the constitution) not our profession (and the USPTO).
Who knows, if we were to quit applying the double standard to ourselves here in the States, we might stop applying it to other nations as well. Of course now I'm probably really dreaming.
It seems obvious to me why VHS thrives in Walmart. Walmart stopped selling Tivos.
Think about it. My gut instinct was to say my dvd player doesn't record. Then I rememebered, oh yeah, I have a Tivo (it's just a part of my life, I don't think about it any more). Tivo is why I never use a VCR. Walmart is where I bought my steal-of-a-deal tivo when they closed them out.
Think about the mentality of the walmart shopper and that they obviously didn't get tivo and what choice do they have left?
Actually, I would expect some bugs and crashes from a pirated developer copy of software two years away from projected release date and I expect that the "normal" (read: non-pc-fanatical) sites and journals would report it that way.
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I have to disagree most strongly. I am a citizen and I have rights. Calling me a consumer in its place is degrading. Citizens have the constitution backing up their rights. Consumers have Ralph Nader. Meaning no offence to Mr. Nader but that is a HUGE difference.
I suppose we can just agree to disagree about this but I find it highly objectionable to be counted as a consumer when legal matters are at issue. I would prefer the courts not consider the value of my spendng when deciding the fate of my rights.
Why should corporate America have to suffer but the government not?
I don't mean to split hairs (and this may well be what you meant) but this statement, I believe, is part of the problem we are having in the US today. What we should be asking is:
Why should American citizens have to suffer but the government not?
Once we degrade ourselves to the level of Corporations or Consumers, it becomes much easier for the government (or anyone else) to take away our rights. We are all citizens, in corporations, in the government, as small business owners, and on welfare and that is where our rights reside, in our citizenship (and in the constitution) not our profession (and the USPTO).
Who knows, if we were to quit applying the double standard to ourselves here in the States, we might stop applying it to other nations as well. Of course now I'm probably really dreaming.
It seems obvious to me why VHS thrives in Walmart. Walmart stopped selling Tivos. Think about it. My gut instinct was to say my dvd player doesn't record. Then I rememebered, oh yeah, I have a Tivo (it's just a part of my life, I don't think about it any more). Tivo is why I never use a VCR. Walmart is where I bought my steal-of-a-deal tivo when they closed them out. Think about the mentality of the walmart shopper and that they obviously didn't get tivo and what choice do they have left?
Actually, I would expect some bugs and crashes from a pirated developer copy of software two years away from projected release date and I expect that the "normal" (read: non-pc-fanatical) sites and journals would report it that way.