From Microsoft's (and other big companies) perspective the problem with the current system is that you have to throw facts (and time) at the Patent Office to get an inconvenient patent invalidated. The new system would merely require throwing lawyers (but NOT bribes, oh no, not bribes) at a pliable judge. Problem solved, pesky upstart squished.
The company does make revenue, and you own a share of it. In principle, it could be handed out as dividends, but the shareholders collectively decide to reinvest it instead.
In much the same way that Russian peasants collectively decided on Five Year Plans.
Actually, I think that the idea that the NSA doesn't already have one in place is pretty far-fetched. The real question, to me, is: what would cause them to actually use it?
How PC-centric (actually PC-myopic, just like Microsoft) of you to think so. There's a whole world of phones and tablets and netbooks passing both of you by.
Everything old is new again. Some big companies get founded (or expanded way beyond their original size/scope) by famous entrepreneurs (Gates, the Watsons, Westinghouse, Ford(s), etc, etc.) and then are followed by nameless/faceless people who could never live up to the savvy or inspiration of the founders. Your post applies word-for-word to IBM in the late 70s; they'd lost all the big names and the big new innovations, the magic had just worn off, leaving only a whole lot of ugly underneath showing through. Microsoft will weather this. They'll go on to become just another large software company with uninspiring products, like any other - think Computer Associates. You don't criticize General Motors for not making Ferraris, why criticize Microsoft for not making OS X? Also, it's really kind of funny that Slashdot still uses the Bill Gates Borg icon for Microsoft, it hasn't been remotely true for years.
Apple (almost) went through this (voluntarily) once already with John Scully, it's about to happen again when Steve Jobs dies "suddenly". I expect a lot of "Apple loses their mojo" stories following that.
And before anyone says I'm some kind of Microsoft asrtoturfer, let me say that I'm a Gentoo-using Microsoft hater of long, long standing. I'm just saying that none of this should be surprising.
I was working at a Rockwell subsidiary, and I and several friends remember us joking that it was probably due to some middle manager screaming "WHADDYA MEAN I CAN'T SHIP ON TIME?"
It's not a "nifty hack", it's the Greatest Hack of All Time - past, present and future, in all Time Lines, and in all Parallel Universes and Dimensions(TM). The fact that he did it in the 70's, before anybody else was really even trying, just adds to the wonderment of it. If there were a Nobel Prize for Deviousness, he would have won it hands down, and then they would have retired the prize, as having "been done".
Of course, larger, higher power transistors are less likely to be disrupted (or outright DESTROYED) by the random cosmic ray than are the tiny low-power transistors that are used in hand-held consumer electronics. There's a REASON that NASA is still using 386s.
Slashdot Mirror
From Microsoft's (and other big companies) perspective the problem with the current system is that you have to throw facts (and time) at the Patent Office to get an inconvenient patent invalidated. The new system would merely require throwing lawyers (but NOT bribes, oh no, not bribes) at a pliable judge. Problem solved, pesky upstart squished.
In much the same way that Russian peasants collectively decided on Five Year Plans.
Actually, I think that the idea that the NSA doesn't already have one in place is pretty far-fetched. The real question, to me, is: what would cause them to actually use it?
Interesting point, choosing Lisp over C. Actually, as a physicist, he'd probably be more likely to be using Matlematica (or FORTRAN).
Even with a robot, you're not getting any cheerleaders.
Maybe even especially with a robot, you're not getting any cheerleaders.
Please welcome a bullet into your left temple.
Strange. You would think that Sheldon would say something like "3 * ((3 * knock) + Penny)".
How PC-centric (actually PC-myopic, just like Microsoft) of you to think so. There's a whole world of phones and tablets and netbooks passing both of you by.
Everything old is new again. Some big companies get founded (or expanded way beyond their original size/scope) by famous entrepreneurs (Gates, the Watsons, Westinghouse, Ford(s), etc, etc.) and then are followed by nameless/faceless people who could never live up to the savvy or inspiration of the founders. Your post applies word-for-word to IBM in the late 70s; they'd lost all the big names and the big new innovations, the magic had just worn off, leaving only a whole lot of ugly underneath showing through. Microsoft will weather this. They'll go on to become just another large software company with uninspiring products, like any other - think Computer Associates. You don't criticize General Motors for not making Ferraris, why criticize Microsoft for not making OS X? Also, it's really kind of funny that Slashdot still uses the Bill Gates Borg icon for Microsoft, it hasn't been remotely true for years.
Apple (almost) went through this (voluntarily) once already with John Scully, it's about to happen again when Steve Jobs dies "suddenly". I expect a lot of "Apple loses their mojo" stories following that.
And before anyone says I'm some kind of Microsoft asrtoturfer, let me say that I'm a Gentoo-using Microsoft hater of long, long standing. I'm just saying that none of this should be surprising.
That's exactly what's happening - meteorite strikes are adding to the mass of the planet. And of course stuff brought back through the Stargate.
I was working at a Rockwell subsidiary, and I and several friends remember us joking that it was probably due to some middle manager screaming "WHADDYA MEAN I CAN'T SHIP ON TIME?"
It's not a "nifty hack", it's the Greatest Hack of All Time - past, present and future, in all Time Lines, and in all Parallel Universes and Dimensions(TM). The fact that he did it in the 70's, before anybody else was really even trying, just adds to the wonderment of it. If there were a Nobel Prize for Deviousness, he would have won it hands down, and then they would have retired the prize, as having "been done".
Please wake me when that happens.
Space programs can probably afford to use CMOS static RAM.
Of course, larger, higher power transistors are less likely to be disrupted (or outright DESTROYED) by the random cosmic ray than are the tiny low-power transistors that are used in hand-held consumer electronics. There's a REASON that NASA is still using 386s.
Well, at least the pages won't stick together any more.
Next thing you know, NCIS and CSI:Whatever will be true!
Maybe you can try for Iron Chef Japan.
Oh come on! Whittington has already apologized! What more do you want from him?
As elephants, they're obviously all Republicans, so, no worries!
I don't think that's at all fair, Jurassic Park was some of Michael Crichton's finest work.
Wait. That didn't come out right.
St. Louis, Missouri?
Because only someone young (and foolish) would release something that's been entombed alive for 34,000 years.
Mmmmmmmmm. braaaaains. Om nom nom nom nom.
You mean wetware is easier to exploit than software? Wow. Who'd a thunk it?