Would the mods of the above post please refrain from using your mod points in the future. Pointing out the obvious sarcasm in the great grandparent post is NOT off-topic.
Ummmmmmmm, no. Apparently from the other reply, I am not the only one. Have you had a different experience? And are you sure that the shipper really shipped right away?
I have never bought two-day shipping for fed-ex or ups packages, yet receive everything within 2 business days of physical ship. Not just amazon either.
I once used two-day shipping with USPS, they lost the package, and found it again two weeks later. They kindly told me that two day shipping does not guarantee two-days to get there. I asked what the two-day shipping meant then, and I got a trout look.
And that is where the process needs rethought. Can a simple algorithm pass? Not in my mind. Can more complex systems be patented? Yes in my mind. I would think that patents should be shorter due to the nature of the beast we are working with.
As to the nature of "fairness". I can argue the opposite. How is it fair for me to put in a lot of work on something, go through the trials and errors, only to have someone look at my finished project, and copy it... especially when that person will make a financial gain from it.
I don't pretend that any solution is perfect. I do think that patents serve a purpose to benefit society. When they are abused, as they are now, they stifle innovation because you cannot build on existing ideas. When they are eliminated, they stifle innovation because there is little incentive to do so.
Thank you, however, for the thoughtful reply. There are clearly differing opinions on this subject, and I am tired of the flame fest that goes on.
I am not against software patents. I think they are a good thing. However, we seriously need to reconsider what is considered patentable. Some of the approved patents are blatantly absurd, and actually hurt commerce.
Patents are desiged to encourage innovation (as ou rightly point out). But big business has twisted gov't's arm so much that they no longer serve the interests of the people as a whole. For a ridiculous example of COPYRIGHT protection: The 'Happy Birthday' song is still protected... found this out when I wanted to add it to an app I wrote... Patents are similarly absurd.
So, like most other things I fall squarely in the middle of the two camps, and get shot at from both sides.
Methinks they don't understand that some folks might also have a sense of humor and reply accordingly. I doubt that anyone with an IQ low enough to think this is real would know how to turn on their PC.
Solar sails have been proposed that have a mirror system to allow the other half of the said to get the energy. At the half way point (more or less), the system basically reverses itself, causing a slow down. I assume a similar method would be used here.
It is very cost benefitial to not have to take fuel with you... or at least not as much.
My question is, what kind of payload is practical with this kind of thing? I've always read that to get any kind of larger payload, you cannot use solar sails. Do they get around this by using the microwave beam they talked about (ie higher energy per square meter)? I wish there were more numbers in the article...
Did I say anything about open source? We were talking about Open Office.
You wouldn't use a hammer to make a nice, smooth cut in a piece of wood, would you? No, but there are nice multi-purpose tools. A professional carpenter has more tools than I can afford to buy in my life time. For my purposes, I use a few tools that are not as good at the individual jobs, but fit in my price range. Word does what I need it to do for creating word processing documents, and relatively simple flyers and other "non word processing" documents. I like it because for my needs it can handle it. And, I do not have to spend time learning how to use another program. Unlike many in this forum, I like computers to do what I need them to do, then get the hack out of my way...
People have grown accustomed to using one tool for simple word processing to more advanced word processing. This type of mentality will not lead to more peole adopting open source.
Re:So much easier to knock down than to build up
on
Top 10 Apple Flops
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· Score: 1
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt quotes (American 26th US president (1901-09), 1858-1919)
And it applies to Microsoft critics as much as Apple critics.
Slashdot Mirror
Would the mods of the above post please refrain from using your mod points in the future. Pointing out the obvious sarcasm in the great grandparent post is NOT off-topic.
Sarcasm.
Ummmmmmmm, no. Apparently from the other reply, I am not the only one. Have you had a different experience? And are you sure that the shipper really shipped right away?
I have never bought two-day shipping for fed-ex or ups packages, yet receive everything within 2 business days of physical ship. Not just amazon either.
I once used two-day shipping with USPS, they lost the package, and found it again two weeks later. They kindly told me that two day shipping does not guarantee two-days to get there. I asked what the two-day shipping meant then, and I got a trout look.
Does two-day shipping price really mean anything?
Not an expert. But I ran it for google, and got 40+ errors.
And that is where the process needs rethought. Can a simple algorithm pass? Not in my mind. Can more complex systems be patented? Yes in my mind. I would think that patents should be shorter due to the nature of the beast we are working with.
As to the nature of "fairness". I can argue the opposite. How is it fair for me to put in a lot of work on something, go through the trials and errors, only to have someone look at my finished project, and copy it... especially when that person will make a financial gain from it.
I don't pretend that any solution is perfect. I do think that patents serve a purpose to benefit society. When they are abused, as they are now, they stifle innovation because you cannot build on existing ideas. When they are eliminated, they stifle innovation because there is little incentive to do so.
Thank you, however, for the thoughtful reply. There are clearly differing opinions on this subject, and I am tired of the flame fest that goes on.
If you can, please show me where I said to throw the whole system out...
The system is flawed so lets throw the whoel thing out. Can you read?
You got me there :)
I've never seen a uid that low... hadda look twice at it :)
And every note for every piano concerto ever written can be traced to a "learning piano" book. Ergo the music should not be protected.
Sorry, your logic is flawed.
Then wouldn't it be intellectually consistent to boycott Slashdot as many in the community boycott Microsoft and other non-open source products?
I am not against software patents. I think they are a good thing. However, we seriously need to reconsider what is considered patentable. Some of the approved patents are blatantly absurd, and actually hurt commerce.
Patents are desiged to encourage innovation (as ou rightly point out). But big business has twisted gov't's arm so much that they no longer serve the interests of the people as a whole. For a ridiculous example of COPYRIGHT protection: The 'Happy Birthday' song is still protected... found this out when I wanted to add it to an app I wrote... Patents are similarly absurd.
So, like most other things I fall squarely in the middle of the two camps, and get shot at from both sides.
"increasing penetration rate" and slashdot... just think of the jokes.
Same way the rovers will get back.
I thought I just said that :)
Using the nautical definition you're simply stating the poster's ass is not self-propelling. I guess it depends on how many burrito's I've eaten!
Methinks they don't understand that some folks might also have a sense of humor and reply accordingly. I doubt that anyone with an IQ low enough to think this is real would know how to turn on their PC.
Look at the sixth entry of your own link. If yo cannot read what you link to, then it may apply to you.
You are correct, it is not exactly a solar sail.
But it is a very similar principal with very similar problems, with very similar solutions to those very similar problems.
However, Niven's approach would not work going to Mars...
Solar sails have been proposed that have a mirror system to allow the other half of the said to get the energy. At the half way point (more or less), the system basically reverses itself, causing a slow down. I assume a similar method would be used here.
The grandparent was meant as a joke (almost as fast as dihydrogen monoxide is the tip off).
It is very cost benefitial to not have to take fuel with you... or at least not as much.
My question is, what kind of payload is practical with this kind of thing? I've always read that to get any kind of larger payload, you cannot use solar sails. Do they get around this by using the microwave beam they talked about (ie higher energy per square meter)? I wish there were more numbers in the article...
Did I say anything about open source?
We were talking about Open Office.
You wouldn't use a hammer to make a nice, smooth cut in a piece of wood, would you?
No, but there are nice multi-purpose tools. A professional carpenter has more tools than I can afford to buy in my life time. For my purposes, I use a few tools that are not as good at the individual jobs, but fit in my price range. Word does what I need it to do for creating word processing documents, and relatively simple flyers and other "non word processing" documents. I like it because for my needs it can handle it. And, I do not have to spend time learning how to use another program. Unlike many in this forum, I like computers to do what I need them to do, then get the hack out of my way...
People have grown accustomed to using one tool for simple word processing to more advanced word processing. This type of mentality will not lead to more peole adopting open source.
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt quotes (American 26th US president (1901-09), 1858-1919)
And it applies to Microsoft critics as much as Apple critics.