User: Ocrad

Re:Bad Example

On: Canada Says No To DMCA

How far are you willing to take that? Everyone has a conflict of interest, so should no one make laws?

I think it is OK to develop rules for the use of common spaces, but no one should make laws. NEVER.

--
How may a "trillion" be a "million million"?

Re:what about red hat

On: IBM Opens Their Patent Portfolio to Open Source

Writeing code is fairly cheap and fast. Debug/ test Maintenance and Support cost $$.

Please, can you write an OCR program so that I can debug and maintain it afterwards?

Thank you.

Re:Heh

On: Canada Quashes Copyright Tax on MP3 Players

I should have said, "What kind of free country allows unelected people to impose taxes?".

Well, how free is a country that allows the representatives of the majority, or even the biggest minority, to impose taxes on all?

Re:Heh

On: Canada Quashes Copyright Tax on MP3 Players

Honestly, what kind of country allows an entity other than the elected representatives to impose taxes?

Spain, for example.

Re:I have said it before and I'll say it again...

On: Illegal File Trading Draws Two P2P Raids In Europe

A bad law is a bad thing, and civil disobedience is one way to protest it.

I think "civil disobedience" is a misleading name. Only slaves have to obey.
When a free man does not follow a bad law, he is simply exercising his liberty.

Re:Lobbys

On: Software Patents Circumvent European Parliament

And what happens when one rich, man spends $200,000 and 2 weeks "lobbying" for his issue of the day, using only his private funds and time? Certainly we can't stop private citizens from spending their own time and money to bring their issues to the attention of their lawmakers.

Someone said it before; "Democracy sucks. 51% of people can legally dispossess to the other 49% of their properties, and even of their lives". With lobbies it only sucks more. One man alone (with the help of lawmakers) can dispossess to the rest of the people of their property.

I can't understand why a free man have to obey unjust laws. Only slaves have to obey. If the only reason to obey is the fear of punishment, then what is the difference between a democracy and a dictatorship?

Yes, I am european, and a possible martyr of software patents thanks to lobbies.

Re:Even the Bad Guys are on our side

On: Report Says Patents Threaten Software Innovation

It's strange the friends we seem to be making these days ... First IBM, now PWC.

IBM owns PWC. So in essence, these two friends are one and the same.

October 2, 2002
"IBM paid about $3.5 billion in cash and stock for the PricewaterhouseCoopers unit, which specializes in global management consulting and technology services".
See full article here

Re:From where in America?

On: Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult

I am sorry if you find Usan derogatory. But I won't use American to mean USA inhabitant, as I won't use European to mean French.

So, I will use Usan until Usans invent an appropiate name to refer to themselves.

Note: Usan is not in the Merriam-Webster.

From where in America?

On: Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult

From TFA:

The annual National Geographic Survey had thrown up the sad fact that only 23 out of 56 young Americans knew the whereabouts of the Pacific Ocean

Argentinians, Canadians, Chileans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Usans?

We, the Spaniards are not the only Europeans. You know?

Americans?

On: Language Tempest At Orkut

Brazilian internet users averaged an estimated 13 hours and 51 minutes in May, eight minutes more than for Americans.

Aren't Brazilian Americans? Or America _is_ the USA and the rest of the continent is another thing?

The lack of a collective name for the inhabitants of the USA doesn't give them the right to steal the term "American".

Hey, they even seem to lack a name for "collective name for the inhabitants of somewhere". (Gentilicio in Spanish).

Re:2 Billion Years Ago ??

On: New Evidence About 'The Great Dying' 250 Million Years Ago

In Soviet Russia, the universe didn't existed at that time. (-2*10E12 years).

Re:Great news, but..

On: JOE Hits 3.0

I also use Joe. In fact GNU Ocrad is written with it.

I am going to give a try to Joe 3.0 now.