It is not about being cash strapped. Let me give you an example. If you own a company and created a nifty idea. Someone stole your nifty idea. You are going to sue them so they will stop utilizing your nifty idea and you will recover some money from it. Now lets say it will cost your company $10,000.00 to wage a battle, but you will only get $5,000.00 in the end. Is it fair for you to suffer a loss of $5,000.00? Anyone who says it is fair needs to get their head examined because they are defending the criminals. It is more likely that your company is going to wait until they can recoup at LEAST $10,000.00 from the offending party. So at least you break even AND get the offending party to cease their present actions.
-Avi
"We didn't know" usually works or "We couldn't afford to pay legal fee's to run litigation so we had to wait."
I am not a legal expert, nor do I really know all the legal subtleties; so throwing one doctrine at me and asking me how to circumvent it is not really a fair tactic. If I were a lawyer I could probably come up with 15 different ways to get around this doctrine. What I do know is that companies utilize this all the time, sometimes to make a killer profit, but more likely because it is not cost effective for them to sue until a certain point is reached. And in all honesty is it fair to the company, who has their rights infringed on, to have to suffer?
That is the problem I have seen on many forums (including/.) - people tend to throw around limited aspects of knowledge, without the benefit of the whole picture. As we know there are tens of thousands of legal books.
-A
Hey I like to bash the big fuzzy guy just like the next/.er, but every now and again I have to give them their applause:)
I just like the borg bill gates picture with the MSN butterfly:)
-A
Not necessarily. Many companies wait to sue until the company being sued generates a certain amount of revenue. The reason for this is so the cost of litigation fee's is covered. In other words. If it will cost me 1 million to sue your company, I want to make sure I get back at least 1 million. So I am going to wait until that point in time.
However, it didn't cost these guys that much money to create the jpg standard.
-A
I agree it's bogus. IMHO these guys probably didn't care in 1986 when they were happy they made something "cool". They let it go, and eventually some company that buys the technology starts to sue (just like SCO did when they bought UNIX).
I hope the judge throws it out. How many of us actually knew that JPEG was patented and not of the freeware community?
-A
Your comparing Israel fighting a bunch of terrorists who hide in a country that supports them to Hitler? The same terrorists that strap bombs to their bodies to blow up weddings, restaurants, etc? Oh wait your posting anonymously.
-Avi
Technology is to be respected, people are to be feared. A knife is a tool; someone stabbing someone else in the chest with a knife does not make the knife a bad thing, it makes the person a bad person.
You say a pacemaker is awesome, but a chip to control muscle functions is a "bit frightening." Tell that to the person who is strapped to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. A person (Christopher Reeves is a good example since he is well known), I am sure would take the chance to walk again even if he might suffer a BSOD every now and again (will his eyes go blue? oh wait...):)
I think the advancement of technology should NOT be slowed or stopped because of people who misuse it. The people who misuse it should just be taken out (one way or another).
My two cents:)
-A
It sounds to me that he didn't hit the brakes before the accident occurred - which could mean he didn't see the person (night time?) If that is the case, well duh.
This guy did this multiple times, he should sit in jail for a bit. But the legal system (anywhere) is screwed up in general and there is no uniformity for sentence durations.
-A
Nobody says it has to be up 24/7
What about joining your computer up to an organization that will use your computing power in their math processes (i forget the name of the program).
I had an old scsi box i used as a back-up server for my web designs (design company back in college). I set it up and let Nasa use a part of my computer (and bandwidth) to do the math problems.
He made it for the same reason why people make things like "the largest pizza" --- because they can!
I think it's cool. We need more humor in the media and this brings it. Will he use it at a major event? Maybe he will sell it to a football stadium, maybe it will be shredded - but either way it's just cool.
-A
For us to change our payscale it would have to be changed up and down the stream (from the highest paid CEO to the lowest paid web designer);)
We would also have to shift our entire economy - then again would you like to live in the same style as third world countries? There the difference between the rich and the poor is far greater then here.
I think this offshoring justification is a mass-media feel good. My friend who was at a high level meeting with a company that wants to offshore jobs emailed me "I do not like this - helping offshore jobs"
-A
Well you know it does help our economy to have more employees canned so our jobs can go offshore. I mean - come on - AOL firing a few hundred employees does wonders for a recovering economy. With more people on wellfare, unemployment, living on the streets - whose to complain?
-A
I do not think they are saying its legal to download pirated material, I think they are saying they will not divulge private information to corporations.
I think, however, if you get caught downloading in Canada you are still hosed.
And if you live in the US and download from Canada, you are dealing with some other laws that would probably make it worse
-Avi
P.s. Just dawned on me - what if the music companies, who are viewing these lists of peoples names, phone numbers, age, address, credit card info, etc... are now signing them up for junk mail....
Lets not throw such terms as "facism" around too easily. I totally understand what this person is saying. While choice is great, too much choice - without explanation or direction - sucks. When I go to the store for meat - i know there is chicken, beef, fish, and pork - do I know the plethora of cuts? No I do not. I go to the butcher and say "Hey I want to make this, what do you think." The butcher then tells me which cut I should take. Maybe he is all out for himself and selling me a terrible cut so he can make an extra buck. My alternative is to go buy a book and learn the fine art of being a butcher (something I do not plan on doing). So I need to rely on this person and hope he is an honest person (and if he isn't, when he comes to me for computer service I will return the favor "oh yea you need a wizzy gadget, it will run you 2 grand".
When I go to download Linux I do not have a butcher telling me what would work best for my life style. That is what this person is stating.
When I go to the dealership I go there with a thought process - be it cost, look style. So if I go to the dealership and say "hey i want a family car and i want to spend 21 grand" they will offer me help. If i go to the dealership and say "I WANT A CAR" I bet you the person is going to start asking questions like "are you single or married? have kids? do you want to off road? etc."
The person has a valid argument, lets not chew him down because we love linux.
-A
Slashdot Mirror
PS-2 over the GF anyday :)
It is not about being cash strapped. Let me give you an example. If you own a company and created a nifty idea. Someone stole your nifty idea. You are going to sue them so they will stop utilizing your nifty idea and you will recover some money from it. Now lets say it will cost your company $10,000.00 to wage a battle, but you will only get $5,000.00 in the end. Is it fair for you to suffer a loss of $5,000.00? Anyone who says it is fair needs to get their head examined because they are defending the criminals. It is more likely that your company is going to wait until they can recoup at LEAST $10,000.00 from the offending party. So at least you break even AND get the offending party to cease their present actions. -Avi
"We didn't know" usually works or "We couldn't afford to pay legal fee's to run litigation so we had to wait." I am not a legal expert, nor do I really know all the legal subtleties; so throwing one doctrine at me and asking me how to circumvent it is not really a fair tactic. If I were a lawyer I could probably come up with 15 different ways to get around this doctrine. What I do know is that companies utilize this all the time, sometimes to make a killer profit, but more likely because it is not cost effective for them to sue until a certain point is reached. And in all honesty is it fair to the company, who has their rights infringed on, to have to suffer? That is the problem I have seen on many forums (including /.) - people tend to throw around limited aspects of knowledge, without the benefit of the whole picture. As we know there are tens of thousands of legal books.
-A
Hey I like to bash the big fuzzy guy just like the next /.er, but every now and again I have to give them their applause :)
I just like the borg bill gates picture with the MSN butterfly :)
-A
Not necessarily. Many companies wait to sue until the company being sued generates a certain amount of revenue. The reason for this is so the cost of litigation fee's is covered. In other words. If it will cost me 1 million to sue your company, I want to make sure I get back at least 1 million. So I am going to wait until that point in time. However, it didn't cost these guys that much money to create the jpg standard. -A
no really. come on you don't honestly believe that do you? :)
-A
I agree it's bogus. IMHO these guys probably didn't care in 1986 when they were happy they made something "cool". They let it go, and eventually some company that buys the technology starts to sue (just like SCO did when they bought UNIX). I hope the judge throws it out. How many of us actually knew that JPEG was patented and not of the freeware community? -A
make more ram? Wow what a brainiac move on my end. Then again, artificial inflation is more profitable. -A
So the only conspiracy code will be who can make the sneakiest, open source code that allows them first vote and nobody else realizing it :)
How about we create the ePoll machines :) Make it open source and that way we can all trust it when we see the code. ;)
-A
Your comparing Israel fighting a bunch of terrorists who hide in a country that supports them to Hitler? The same terrorists that strap bombs to their bodies to blow up weddings, restaurants, etc? Oh wait your posting anonymously. -Avi
Technology is to be respected, people are to be feared. A knife is a tool; someone stabbing someone else in the chest with a knife does not make the knife a bad thing, it makes the person a bad person. You say a pacemaker is awesome, but a chip to control muscle functions is a "bit frightening." Tell that to the person who is strapped to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. A person (Christopher Reeves is a good example since he is well known), I am sure would take the chance to walk again even if he might suffer a BSOD every now and again (will his eyes go blue? oh wait...) :)
I think the advancement of technology should NOT be slowed or stopped because of people who misuse it. The people who misuse it should just be taken out (one way or another).
My two cents :)
-A
My girlfriend already has a force feedback feature, how about a mute button?
Don't you worry, SCO doesn't need the $20 million - they are estimating revenue growth due to law suits... -A :)
Yea thats my problem - plenty of Cache, but a 5400 10 Meg Hard drive. -A
It sounds to me that he didn't hit the brakes before the accident occurred - which could mean he didn't see the person (night time?) If that is the case, well duh. This guy did this multiple times, he should sit in jail for a bit. But the legal system (anywhere) is screwed up in general and there is no uniformity for sentence durations. -A
Nobody says it has to be up 24/7 What about joining your computer up to an organization that will use your computing power in their math processes (i forget the name of the program). I had an old scsi box i used as a back-up server for my web designs (design company back in college). I set it up and let Nasa use a part of my computer (and bandwidth) to do the math problems.
And the tax write off is a lot higher then the actual value of the machine! Get some of your fed dollars back during tax season :)
-A
He made it for the same reason why people make things like "the largest pizza" --- because they can! I think it's cool. We need more humor in the media and this brings it. Will he use it at a major event? Maybe he will sell it to a football stadium, maybe it will be shredded - but either way it's just cool. -A
For us to change our payscale it would have to be changed up and down the stream (from the highest paid CEO to the lowest paid web designer) ;)
We would also have to shift our entire economy - then again would you like to live in the same style as third world countries? There the difference between the rich and the poor is far greater then here.
I think this offshoring justification is a mass-media feel good. My friend who was at a high level meeting with a company that wants to offshore jobs emailed me "I do not like this - helping offshore jobs"
-A
Well you know it does help our economy to have more employees canned so our jobs can go offshore. I mean - come on - AOL firing a few hundred employees does wonders for a recovering economy. With more people on wellfare, unemployment, living on the streets - whose to complain? -A
Thats what yahoo and dummy email accounts are for. -A
I do not think they are saying its legal to download pirated material, I think they are saying they will not divulge private information to corporations. I think, however, if you get caught downloading in Canada you are still hosed. And if you live in the US and download from Canada, you are dealing with some other laws that would probably make it worse -Avi P.s. Just dawned on me - what if the music companies, who are viewing these lists of peoples names, phone numbers, age, address, credit card info, etc... are now signing them up for junk mail....
Kind of dissapointing if you ask me, I would have e-mailed them - faster and saves money :)
-A
Lets not throw such terms as "facism" around too easily. I totally understand what this person is saying. While choice is great, too much choice - without explanation or direction - sucks. When I go to the store for meat - i know there is chicken, beef, fish, and pork - do I know the plethora of cuts? No I do not. I go to the butcher and say "Hey I want to make this, what do you think." The butcher then tells me which cut I should take. Maybe he is all out for himself and selling me a terrible cut so he can make an extra buck. My alternative is to go buy a book and learn the fine art of being a butcher (something I do not plan on doing). So I need to rely on this person and hope he is an honest person (and if he isn't, when he comes to me for computer service I will return the favor "oh yea you need a wizzy gadget, it will run you 2 grand". When I go to download Linux I do not have a butcher telling me what would work best for my life style. That is what this person is stating. When I go to the dealership I go there with a thought process - be it cost, look style. So if I go to the dealership and say "hey i want a family car and i want to spend 21 grand" they will offer me help. If i go to the dealership and say "I WANT A CAR" I bet you the person is going to start asking questions like "are you single or married? have kids? do you want to off road? etc." The person has a valid argument, lets not chew him down because we love linux. -A