If you need incentive, while you're complaining about Programmers and Engineers not being hired, IP is the single fastest growing area of the law, and highest paid. If you pass the Patent Bar, you WILL get a job...a good job.
But not necessarily one that contributes to the development of technology, which I'd guess is pretty important to a number of/. readers.
I doubt it though I may be wrong...anyone correct me?
In the mean time, do you have any contacts that may have access to a high speed connection (students, employees, family, friends). You could give them instuctions on what to download then they could burn it for you.
Alternatively, if you email your address to andyfaeglasgow@gmail.com I would be happy to mail you whichever distribution you want.
Why don't they reduce the maximum length that software patents can expire. I saw somewhere in the thread that they can last 17 years. This is ridiculous in an industry that is only 50 years old.
1 or 2 years is all you would need to make a profit out of a good software idea. After that, the patent expires and everyone can use it.
Say I make an application MyApp, that uses LibFoo (a package released under the GPL); but LibFoo needs a few additions and a little tweaking to allow MyApp to use it.
Do I have to release the entire MyApp under the GPL, or just the changes I made to LibFoo?
I singled Microsoft out because unlike RedHat, Debian and others, they make software and charge people for it.
RedHat, Debian and others are collections of Open Source Software, conveniently distributed as a single package. How can you (or why should you) guarantee software that you don't even produce?
Microsoft, make their own software, that noone can verify the quality of then charge people to use it.
Like I said, other engineers have to give up some of their profits to pay out when things go wrong. For Microsoft, this would mean $100's of millions/year. For projects on SourceForge, this means nante.
...programming is in principle the _only_ engineering profession in the world that offers _no_ guarantee whatsoever for it's work.
Surely that's why Micro$oft have been allowed to make so much money. Whilst more established engineering professions have been forced to give up some of their profits when things go wrong, (or spend more money making sure they don't), Microsoft have been able to get away with keeping all their profits.
More fool the people who pay for software without these guarantees.
your investment can go down in value, unlike putting the money in a bank
Actually the real value of money placed in an ordinary bank account is quite likely to down. This is because typically interest rates are lower than inflation rates.
So by your definition, even putting money in the bank is a gamble. I think the zero-sum game thing makes more sense
Authors who find it difficult to stick to the conventions defined could use a simple tool to convert the code appropriately before submitting it to the repository.
I think the major benefit is data validation.
With X-Forms, all the information you input on a web page can be checked before it is sent to the server without the need for writing reams of javascript. All you need is a simple xml schema.
Slashdot Mirror
Might have earned him $92M ;-)
Captain Manwaring: "Dont tell him Pike!"
Just reminded me of one of the funniest lines ever written. For non-brits, check out the show "Dads Army"
but I like dreaming :-)
Can you comment on the speculation about a new Operating System being created by Google?
I doubt it though I may be wrong...anyone correct me?
In the mean time, do you have any contacts that may have access to a high speed connection (students, employees, family, friends). You could give them instuctions on what to download then they could burn it for you.
Alternatively, if you email your address to
andyfaeglasgow@gmail.com
I would be happy to mail you whichever distribution you want.
Andy
Why don't they reduce the maximum length that software patents can expire. I saw somewhere in the thread that they can last 17 years. This is ridiculous in an industry that is only 50 years old.
1 or 2 years is all you would need to make a profit out of a good software idea. After that, the patent expires and everyone can use it.
Say I make an application MyApp, that uses LibFoo (a package released under the GPL); but LibFoo needs a few additions and a little tweaking to allow MyApp to use it.
Do I have to release the entire MyApp under the GPL, or just the changes I made to LibFoo?
I singled Microsoft out because unlike RedHat, Debian and others, they make software and charge people for it.
RedHat, Debian and others are collections of Open Source Software, conveniently distributed as a single package. How can you (or why should you) guarantee software that you don't even produce?
Microsoft, make their own software, that noone can verify the quality of then charge people to use it.
Like I said, other engineers have to give up some of their profits to pay out when things go wrong. For Microsoft, this would mean $100's of millions/year. For projects on SourceForge, this means nante.
...programming is in principle the _only_ engineering profession in the world that offers _no_ guarantee whatsoever for it's work.
Surely that's why Micro$oft have been allowed to make so much money. Whilst more established engineering professions have been forced to give up some of their profits when things go wrong, (or spend more money making sure they don't), Microsoft have been able to get away with keeping all their profits.
More fool the people who pay for software without these guarantees.
An even better way would be to make rubbish software that requires loads of support cause it keeps crashing...AND charging people for it.
;-)
Hold on a minute...no wonder Microsoft are so successful
I think that you may mean patents here. But I agree with your sentiment
Actually the real value of money placed in an ordinary bank account is quite likely to down. This is because typically interest rates are lower than inflation rates.
So by your definition, even putting money in the bank is a gamble. I think the zero-sum game thing makes more sense
Authors who find it difficult to stick to the conventions defined could use a simple tool to convert the code appropriately before submitting it to the repository.
This is the approach taken by jgrapht.
I think the major benefit is data validation. With X-Forms, all the information you input on a web page can be checked before it is sent to the server without the need for writing reams of javascript. All you need is a simple xml schema.