You still have to try the exercise of imagining the value of software innovation would be without patents. Your response shows you haven't done that yet.
I don't say the patent system is perfect. I just say it is the best we have. While you don't hear about small companies getting very succesful by promoting their innovation on their own, we do hear about small companies geting bought by big ones for their technology. Do you honestly think the big guys are really interested in a few tens (hundreds) thousands lines of code or a bunch of engineers? No, they are after their innovative ideas, i.e. their patents. No patent, no cash.
Having a few big companies fighting each other over patents is actually not that bad. The little guy will have some bargaining power by threatening to sell his patent to some other company.
Having big companies interested in funding research department is not that a bad idea either. Where else do you expect innovation to come from?
Also you don't understand that Micorsoft, for instance, has a market lead not because it has so many patents, but because it can leverage its market position to force clients buy more of their product. Afterall their main revenue sources are Windows and Office, which aren't that innovative and there are already free (as in beer) replacement for both. Yet people still spend billions of dollars on them.
Finally, while the present patent system implementation is not quite perfect, that does not mean that the idea of patents is wrong. Try a bit of more subtlety and spend your energy trying to figure out ways to improve the patent system instead of simply throwing out the baby and the water.
As hard as it is to believe, patents are the only way a creative technical guy can hope to get some money from his inventions. other then working for BigMonopolisticCompany(TM).
If not for patents, every smart idea you have will be ripped off by the BigMonopolisticCompany(TM) as soon as you mention it. Given their market position, they will force their customers to use their version. Given their financiar power, they can hire plenty of brilliant coders to implement your idea in no time. You'll be left with no customers, a window of opportunity of max one year and a huge hole in your personal finances.
By the way, patents are the reason why Sun got 1.6bil$ from Microsoft. Without patents, Microsoft could have just trample Sun into the ground without bothering to spend a dime.
As long as your only dream is to reimplement other people's ideas, then, of course, patents are bad. Be innovative and suddenly patents start to look good.
If the management team is payed a flat salary, they have no incentive to make, say, 15% instead of 8% profit.
I've read this in MBA books. This is what managers tell each other to feel like good persons. But there is nowhere written the bonuses should be in the milions range. What about 'Raise our profit by 5%, get a hefty 50k bonus'.
sorry to have offended you. unfortunately you kind of fail to answer my main point and pick up just a punctual tidbit which was an answer to a tidbit raised by my interlocutor. i picked up my 'India as aggressors' from this very thread. maybe that was wrong. by the way, looks like India has 'fucked up' in Sri Lanka, too. had no idea about that one, what exactly did you guys do there?
by the way, i'm not defending pakistan, i'm merely pointing to the other side of the coin.
Thanks for the answer. I'm in no way an expert in India's history. I actually wish there will be no other major war ever. But looking at over 4000 years hundreds of human history one is bound to see a certain trend:-(
As of India, I don't believe it is somewhat different than the rest of the humanity. And saying 'we are better than the rest because we are xxx' like the original comment stated is the first firm step towards fascism.
About your points: * I don't know anything about Gandhi's plan, but India is not Gandhi. * No hindus in Pakistan but muslims in India == border drawn in favour of India. Perhaps those Pakistanis actually have something to complain about. * We basically agree there is Hindu fundamentalism, thus India is no better than other places. * As I said, China and India are in for a tough ride. If it ever will be a war down there (God forbid), who cares who started it if milions will die in nuclear attacks on both sides?
* I'd bet Pakistan insists that India is behind all evil. * Hereditary democracy. Just like USA by the way;-) * Apparently in last Paki-India clash India was the 'aggressor' * Indeed. Which sustains my point: nobody is clean out there, including India
It is so completely against the basic pysche of the country.
Oh yes. India is so peaceful. 50 years of history, 3 wars already. Pakistan 1947-48, 1965, and 1971. Continuing border skirmishes to this day. Border problems with China. All these nations arming to their teeths.
But I digress. The biggest problem is India's booming population bomb. If you take your time to check human history, you'll notice that wars usually result in a population overstretching local resources and solving the problem by grabbing some from its neighbours. With Pakistan & China having the same population profile, the next major war will be in South Asia.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't say the patent system is perfect. I just say it is the best we have. While you don't hear about small companies getting very succesful by promoting their innovation on their own, we do hear about small companies geting bought by big ones for their technology. Do you honestly think the big guys are really interested in a few tens (hundreds) thousands lines of code or a bunch of engineers? No, they are after their innovative ideas, i.e. their patents. No patent, no cash.
Having a few big companies fighting each other over patents is actually not that bad. The little guy will have some bargaining power by threatening to sell his patent to some other company.
Having big companies interested in funding research department is not that a bad idea either. Where else do you expect innovation to come from?
Also you don't understand that Micorsoft, for instance, has a market lead not because it has so many patents, but because it can leverage its market position to force clients buy more of their product. Afterall their main revenue sources are Windows and Office, which aren't that innovative and there are already free (as in beer) replacement for both. Yet people still spend billions of dollars on them.
Finally, while the present patent system implementation is not quite perfect, that does not mean that the idea of patents is wrong. Try a bit of more subtlety and spend your energy trying to figure out ways to improve the patent system instead of simply throwing out the baby and the water.
If not for patents, every smart idea you have will be ripped off by the BigMonopolisticCompany(TM) as soon as you mention it. Given their market position, they will force their customers to use their version. Given their financiar power, they can hire plenty of brilliant coders to implement your idea in no time. You'll be left with no customers, a window of opportunity of max one year and a huge hole in your personal finances.
By the way, patents are the reason why Sun got 1.6bil$ from Microsoft. Without patents, Microsoft could have just trample Sun into the ground without bothering to spend a dime.
As long as your only dream is to reimplement other people's ideas, then, of course, patents are bad. Be innovative and suddenly patents start to look good.
If the management team is payed a flat salary, they have no incentive to make, say, 15% instead of 8% profit. I've read this in MBA books. This is what managers tell each other to feel like good persons. But there is nowhere written the bonuses should be in the milions range. What about 'Raise our profit by 5%, get a hefty 50k bonus'.
sure. ceo gets 100.000 stock option, the grunt gets 100. the same ratio as the salary.
sorry to have offended you. unfortunately you kind of fail to answer my main point and pick up just a punctual tidbit which was an answer to a tidbit raised by my interlocutor. i picked up my 'India as aggressors' from this very thread. maybe that was wrong. by the way, looks like India has 'fucked up' in Sri Lanka, too. had no idea about that one, what exactly did you guys do there? by the way, i'm not defending pakistan, i'm merely pointing to the other side of the coin.
Thanks for the answer. I'm in no way an expert in India's history. I actually wish there will be no other major war ever. But looking at over 4000 years hundreds of human history one is bound to see a certain trend :-(
;-)
As of India, I don't believe it is somewhat different than the rest of the humanity. And saying 'we are better than the rest because we are xxx' like the original comment stated is the first firm step towards fascism.
About your points:
* I don't know anything about Gandhi's plan, but India is not Gandhi.
* No hindus in Pakistan but muslims in India == border drawn in favour of India. Perhaps those Pakistanis actually have something to complain about.
* We basically agree there is Hindu fundamentalism, thus India is no better than other places.
* As I said, China and India are in for a tough ride. If it ever will be a war down there (God forbid), who cares who started it if milions will die in nuclear attacks on both sides?
* I'd bet Pakistan insists that India is behind all evil.
* Hereditary democracy. Just like USA by the way
* Apparently in last Paki-India clash India was the 'aggressor'
* Indeed. Which sustains my point: nobody is clean out there, including India
Oh yes. India is so peaceful. 50 years of history, 3 wars already. Pakistan 1947-48, 1965, and 1971. Continuing border skirmishes to this day. Border problems with China. All these nations arming to their teeths.
But I digress. The biggest problem is India's booming population bomb. If you take your time to check human history, you'll notice that wars usually result in a population overstretching local resources and solving the problem by grabbing some from its neighbours. With Pakistan & China having the same population profile, the next major war will be in South Asia.