That was one system he knew had to die a quick death. That machine was ahead of it's time. The Intellectual property for the Amiga is so separated into various pieces, it will NEVER come to market again. Bill Gates could never compete with the Amiga if he didn't own it, and he knew it. Since he couldn't buy it outright, he fostered it's death into computer history.
Don't fix Vista. Swtich them to Linux.
on
Hostile ta Vista, Baby
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
"It turns out the Facebook issue was not really Microsoft's fault -- www.facebook.com had a broken IPv6 record, and Vista defaults to using IPv6 where XP used IPv4, so that's why the host wasn't working. (In case you run into this with any other Web sites on Vista, I fixed the problem by disabling IPv6 in network settings and rebooting.)"
I wouldn't be as nice as you were. Because Microsoft bought/brought all this responsibility on themselves over the past 30+ years, the solution I would give the Vista-hurt user is switch to Linux, and I help them get their computer working again by reloading their system with Linux, and running Windows XP in a virtual machine using VirtualBox with seamless desktop integration. (http://www.virtualbox.org)
I would switch the user to Linux even if the fix was a simply as a different setting. All the more to derail Microsoft from their monopoly. (If the DOJ can't do it, I guess I have to do it myself.)
Microsoft would have to pay me RICHLY to fix Vista issues and/or reload PCs with XP.
On second thought, they could never pay me enough to push their crap. I give my friends and customers the best on a PC - LINUX!
I agree with you on this. Microsoft saw the writing on the wall back in the late 80's, and purposefully told then established and forming OEMs to exclude other OSes (in order to get a discount,) and do this pretty much forever, and told the public this was a public service, to preload MS-DOS and/or Windows on an IBM Compatible. This was to cause a natural de-selection for competing OSes like Novell DOS 7, Caldera DOS, and OS-2 Warp to name a few. This did not work on Linux and Open Source software, because the software was not created by the established confines of the industry of the time like the other OSes were. The openness of the internet had a lot to do with this failure because Bill Gates did not own the distribution and development channels of this particular software. He still owns the channels from the 80's he fought and bought, the ones those other OSes belong to, and that is why they are still down and out, because they will never see the light of day again. Neither will the Amiga because it also belongs to that development channel.
Microsoft has not worked well with anyone. Even though they are a company based in the United States and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are U.S. citizens, they have a philosophy and mantra that goes against the principles of democracy, against the very foundations of their country that establish freedom and opportunities for ALL people. They simply want to take advantage of numbers, not grow a society in the freedoms many forefathers have fought for, but one that would continue to give them lots and lots of money. They are selfish, greedy, and self-serving. All they care about is getting people to use their software, so they continue their money stream. They don't care who they exclude, they don't have to care about the quality of their services, because they have a monopoly bought from the US-government through the avenues that allow special interests to take power away from the people and give it to the people who have a lot of money, no matter if that money was earned honestly, or not.
If the way Microsoft did business is very good, right, and moral, then why not teach this to our kids in our schools? Lacking in creativity? getting bad grades? Pay off your teacher. Buy your way through school through manipulation, power, and influence. Isn't that what Microsoft has done in the real world, except they have bought their way through the government enough to dispell public scrutiny? If we let Microsoft do this, are we not doing our kids a disservice because we are not teaching them the way the world is? Maybe the correct way is not democracy, but to make as much money as possible, any way you can, buying your way through life, and forgetting people who have less power than you?
If we would let Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer take over the world, I would have to say, your free speech would be removed, you would have to pay to post your words here on Slashdot, and your words would of course be censored, and only speech that would glorify Microsoft's cause as long as Bill and Steve could use it propaganda for their empire. They are no different than one country trying to take over the world. There are governments in their way and they will be dealt with accordingly.
Your choice. Freedom or Bondage. I want freedom. In everything I do, I do those things that promote those ideals. In regards to computing, I use a lot of Open Source software, like Linux and Mac OS X, Open Office, and Firefox (stuff Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer do not want me to use because it does not suit their purposes) not closed source garbage, like MS-Windows, Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer (stuff that would lock me in to giving Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer perpetual money without them having to earn it from me.)
That guy in prison is a small pirate. Bill Gates and Co. is part Mafia, part Pirate. Mafia, where if you are doing something not to his liking, not to his profit, he will break your business legs. Pirate, because he is imposing demand of payment, a toll of passage that could otherwise be offered free by anyone else. And, like the Mafia and Pirates have stolen stuff themselves and has paid off enough legislature and judges to have gotten away with it.
Haven't you heard of the term "Pirates of Silicon Valley"? He was one of them. Steve Jobs was a big-guy pirate wanna be poser, and got his butt kicked by the real Pirates (IBM, circa 1989 - and Microsoft) - Aaaarrrrrrggggg!
The RIAA is another Pirate/Mafia organization.
Steve Ballmer has a chair-cannon on his Pirate ship.
It would be smart to write it in such a way, that you could choose your operating system. We wouldn't want to be locked into one particular vendor's software, now would we. That would kind of fly in the face of an Open, Free, and Fair market system.
I just love the openness internet. If Microsoft tried this 10 to 15 years ago, they might have gotten away with it as an original idea. But it is not. Why do you think more politics have to be added to the Patent system? So Microsoft can continue to appear to be innovative when they have faked most of it all along? You don't need to spend 7.1 Billion dollars a year on R&D. Just use Google for free and cut that cost at least by half, if not more! Spend the other half on feeding the poor, or rebuilding from the devastation of Katrina, for example.
This is why Microsoft has a lot of money. While I don't like Microsoft for most of the reasons of their existence, in pure business dollars, they were smart to offload the burden of hardware onto other companies, early on (while they "owned" the distribution and development channels.) Then they would not have to deal with cases such as the ones that Dell, HP, and Apple have had to deal with in the past. In recent years, trying to market the XBOX, they soon realized why they didn't want to get into the hardware side in the first place. You can hide imperfections easier in closed source software. (In open Source software, any knowledgeable person can see and even fix the imperfections.) The imperfections these other companies have to deal with are obvious. And of course, I have never seen software explode. Oh wait... BSOD.
And program in Commodore Basic a database program that writes records to cassette tape, and index all your books. I would leave your C-64 on all the time so you don't have to reload your index files from tape. I you want more spped, upgrade to a 1571 disk drive, or a Lt. Kernel Hard Drive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lt_Kernal)
You can scan in images of your book covers with a scanning device you make at home (search google.com yourself for plans.)
reporter writes: "According to a report recently filed by the Washington Post, Microsoft has finally begun to crackdown on software piracy... with a twist. The Microsoft corporation is targeting political enemies with claims of piracy, including independent news media, political parties, and private advocacy groups. In particular, 'the newspaper the Wall Street Journal, one of the last outposts of critical journalism in the U.S.A., suspended publication of its regional edition in the Eastern city of New York on Monday after prosecutors opened a criminal case against its editor, alleging that his publication used unlicensed software (Open Office and the GIMP on Linux)'"
Since MULTICS is the father of ALL modern OSes (which would include that trash heap, Windblows) it should provide a multitude of algorithms and processes that people are now trying to Patent and pass off as an Original Invention. This is a very good piece of history. Some people would rather you forget where you came from so they can take advantage of you in the marketplace.
"It should come as no surprise that if people think they can hide illegal activity they will attempt to."
'People' also means groups of people, which can also include Microsoft, who has long since denied any wrongdoing of growing their collection of software and inventions since their inception. Yet... they insist that they are protecting their Intellectual Property by hiding the source code to Windows and other Microsoft softwares. How can we know for sure (in the public eye) that they themselves have not stolen software from others over the years. Law is about absolutes. It is enforced with absolute counter-measures, unless a payoff can lessen a punishment and the bribe can be hidden from others eyes that care about such matters.
So this goes for corporations as well as common citizens, no?
And another thought....
And I always thought the death of Gary Kindall, was a bit fishy.
Perhaps he could have shut down the operations of a particular large monopolistic software company with some carefully placed testimony that closed source software could not conceal?
Maybe he got hit with a thrown chair at the bar and died?
I certainly hope this did not happen. But mafia-types tend to protect their profits in unlawful and immoral ways. (Did you ever see the Godfather movie series? If my comments are considered slander, I blame it on watching the Godfather as a kid and seeing "the Pirates of Silicon Valley." )
---
The power of an open internet... showing mankind itself for all it is...
This will only speed the retirement of Bill Gates, with Steve Ballmer throwing chairs all by himself. This could be the end of Microsoft as we know it in this generation, for sure, unless Microsoft can get their monopoly conviction appealed and buy and purchase all related intellectual property to a BIOS system. This could get better than Super Bowl Sunday! Microsoft will be filing lawsuits for sure just to be come the next Super-SCO. To see if this will pan out, look for the signs of trouble, particularly coming from Microsoft. They have a hefty burden of profit to generate and they can't let their investors down.
That is why mechanical patents need to disappear, since all someone has to do is come up with a CAD drawing, and the idea can be patented.
Sorry, but basically what you are saying is we can patent "how" electricity flows. The patent system was never meant to patent concepts, but actual things that are tangible. Not arrangements of electrons. Patents, and ever more so U.S. patent law has been in existence since the beginnings of the U.S government. The founding fathers were against patenting concepts alone and before any actual product was made.
There is law for what you are talking about. It is Copyright, and it is enough. You can't compare a CAD drawing to a Flowchart and expect them to mean that because they show how a thing goes together that they mean the same thing in law. They do not pertain to the same kinds of physical manifestations in the real universe. Business process patents are based also on a flowchart. Are the courts are deeming them ridiculous. Software patents are next. And if this issue of software patents were relevant, then the whole SCO vs IBM would be more based on Patent Law then it was on Copyright. That case sets a precedence and proves that we were ONLY dealing with Copyright law not too long ago, and that software patents are a "recent" development in respect to the whole history and past of computer software.
So then how can a person with little or no money to throw at software can keep up with all hoops and processes of the law? This is how computers and programming evolve... copying and sharing of ideas. So the U.S. government just wants monopolies to form. Just screw the free-market system, screw the consumer, and screw the citizens that the U.S. is suppose to protect. Protect the interests of corporations at the expense of citizens' freedoms? George Bush needs to go.
That is why software patents need to disappear, since all someone has to do is come up with a flowchart, and the idea can be patented. And what makes one think that the flowchart is even accurate to the idea that the program expresses? Copyright law is ENOUGH protection. Copyrighting the code is enough.
Want to lock ideas up and stall innovation and take away freedoms of the people via taking away freedoms of the programmer? Just keep on doing what the U.S. is doing with software patents. Another step in the direction of the U.S. becoming the next U.S.S.R.
http://prolifepc.com/ - ProlifePC.com calls for a boycott of Microsoft because of the contributions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Microsoft to Planned Parenthood.
Remember bCentral? I used to have a banner from the Link Exchange. Microsoft bought up a lot of banner companies, including the Link Exchange, and placed it under bCentral. I ditched it as soon as Microsoft started asking for money. Gee, that was back in 1998? So, if Microsoft can't make a banner business succeed, why are they complaining about Google's success? Oh, because it wasn't them? It isn't fair? Haven't I heard this before from Microsoft's competitors when Microsoft was king? Is Microsoft now the paun? Oh, Microsoft, where is thou sting?
So Google is not violating anti-trust. They are being a better competitor (I heard this too about Microsoft back in the day when Microsoft was slaying (mafia-style) companies and stealing technology - Caldera DOS, Stacker, Wordperfect, Visi-calc, Corel Products on Linux, Commodore/Amiga, CP/M, Lotus-123, Netscape to name a few...)
Of course, if Microsoft goes back and renigs on 20 years of anti-trust testimony defense and allows itself to be broken up and pay hefty fines that would bankrupt you for it's past sins, then I would say Google is heading toward monopoly status. But as it stands, Microsoft was a huge reason for the law to be blind about what Microsoft was doing. So they are "blind" now. Too bad Microsoft. You dug your own grave. There is still time to admit you were wrong and be held accountable.
bCentral ========
As of November 15, 2006 Microsoft will no longer accept new sign-ups for select Microsoft Online Small Business Services.
These services, previously marketed under the bCentral(TM) brand, include Appointment Manager, Banner Network Ads, Commerce Manager, Customer Manager, FastCounter Pro, List Builder, Sales Leads, SharePoint®, Submit it!, Traffic Builder, and Web Hosting Packages.
I see that there are people on both sides of this issue. But many may not have been around long enough to remember what happened when Microsoft adopted outside formats to be used in Microsoft Office. The WordPerfect format was used only to help migrate many people from WordPerfect to Microsoft Office. This is because one could use a WordPerfect doc in Microsoft Office, but not use a Microsoft Office doc in WordPerfect really well. Yes, their were import filters. But those worked just as well as filters working to import Microsoft Office documents into Open Office today. WHy do you think Open Office wants to adopt the Open Document format? And aside from other things Microsoft did to ensure WordPerfect's demise, this was one of the methods Microsoft used to gain monopolistic dominance. Microsoft KNOWS HOW TO DESTROY a document format and a business. And it was just before the time Microsoft had an incident with Stac Electronics. Adobe welcomes Open Office because Open Office encourages the PDF format while not directly threatening it's future existance. And Adobe also welcomes the use of PDF on Apple because Apple directly licensed the technology for use in MAC OS X. But Microsoft has had a legacy of Divide and Conquer. Microsoft does not have the trust because they have not earned it over the years. They have not truely repented. They do not admit fault. They show no compassion. So that is what they have earned. They can not integrate technology openly. They do not know how. All they know how to do is buy out, aquire, or kill off technology. They do not know how to be nice and play fair. And this is where Microsoft loses. Microsoft is no longer king of the forest and they need to be for their business model to survive.
You can call me a troll. You can call me bad or a negative thinker, but the Truth is the Truth. And sometimes the truth hurts because people do not want to accept it. I have been involved with personal computers for the past 30 years way before Windows 3.0 and I know whats up. Microsoft has an established legacy and Adobe knows what kind of legacy it is. They are simply staying away from it by making this choice and it is pitiful for Microsoft that Microsoft has the character it does, a character that was established for a long period of time for the various decisions it has made in relevance to open and honest competition and the marketplace. They have abused both.
I do not run any anti-virus software on my Macs, Linux, or Solaris boxes. The security that is part of the OS is THAT good. (MS-Windows does not have this built-in security. Anti-Virus is security for Windows systems.) The bad thing about any technology is, if one does not know how to properly configure it, one will not realize the full potential of the software. Anti-virus is a band-aid fix. I did not use Linspire Linux when it was Lindows because they ran the desktop in root mode all the time. I will use Linspire now because they configure it with privileged accounts. Mac is configured right from Apple to run an account as an Administrator with out too much fuss to change the account type. So yeah, then Apple users would need Anti Virus software because they run the computer in admin mode. But why? Configure the Mac to use privileged accounts and forget about Anti-virus! Then it is as good as Unix. With Linux, all distrubutors configure Linux to use privileged accounts. So again, why bother with Anti-virus.
Creating an OS without adequate security built into the kernel and file system is like selling a car or a house without door locks that can be added later as an option. This is what Microsoft does. Mac sells the door locks with the house, but expects the user to install them.
Vista will suck JUST LIKE all the other Windows versions have. If you want to solve the MS-Windows release problem, we should have made the former judge Jackson's judgement stick, "Break up Microsoft." That is the only way we will see MS-Windows problems disappear. They will never reall FIX them. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer still need to be in their bad money making scheme of forcing trash onto the user.
No, that was yesterday, as in the day preceeding today. We can't get over it because it keeps coming back, as well and Malware and Virus attacks. Now if you are talking Unix technology, then yeah. The last time I thought of the BSoD was when I had Windows on my PC or when I was running it in Win4Lin on Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
That was one system he knew had to die a quick death. That machine was ahead of it's time. The Intellectual property for the Amiga is so separated into various pieces, it will NEVER come to market again. Bill Gates could never compete with the Amiga if he didn't own it, and he knew it. Since he couldn't buy it outright, he fostered it's death into computer history.
"It turns out the Facebook issue was not really Microsoft's fault -- www.facebook.com had a broken IPv6 record, and Vista defaults to using IPv6 where XP used IPv4, so that's why the host wasn't working. (In case you run into this with any other Web sites on Vista, I fixed the problem by disabling IPv6 in network settings and rebooting.)"
I wouldn't be as nice as you were. Because Microsoft bought/brought all this responsibility on themselves over the past 30+ years, the solution I would give the Vista-hurt user is switch to Linux, and I help them get their computer working again by reloading their system with Linux, and running Windows XP in a virtual machine using VirtualBox with seamless desktop integration. (http://www.virtualbox.org)
I would switch the user to Linux even if the fix was a simply as a different setting. All the more to derail Microsoft from their monopoly. (If the DOJ can't do it, I guess I have to do it myself.)
Microsoft would have to pay me RICHLY to fix Vista issues and/or reload PCs with XP.
On second thought, they could never pay me enough to push their crap. I give my friends and customers the best on a PC - LINUX!
I agree with you on this. Microsoft saw the writing on the wall back in the late 80's, and purposefully told then established and forming OEMs to exclude other OSes (in order to get a discount,) and do this pretty much forever, and told the public this was a public service, to preload MS-DOS and/or Windows on an IBM Compatible. This was to cause a natural de-selection for competing OSes like Novell DOS 7, Caldera DOS, and OS-2 Warp to name a few. This did not work on Linux and Open Source software, because the software was not created by the established confines of the industry of the time like the other OSes were. The openness of the internet had a lot to do with this failure because Bill Gates did not own the distribution and development channels of this particular software. He still owns the channels from the 80's he fought and bought, the ones those other OSes belong to, and that is why they are still down and out, because they will never see the light of day again. Neither will the Amiga because it also belongs to that development channel.
Microsoft has not worked well with anyone. Even though they are a company based in the United States and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are U.S. citizens, they have a philosophy and mantra that goes against the principles of democracy, against the very foundations of their country that establish freedom and opportunities for ALL people. They simply want to take advantage of numbers, not grow a society in the freedoms many forefathers have fought for, but one that would continue to give them lots and lots of money. They are selfish, greedy, and self-serving. All they care about is getting people to use their software, so they continue their money stream. They don't care who they exclude, they don't have to care about the quality of their services, because they have a monopoly bought from the US-government through the avenues that allow special interests to take power away from the people and give it to the people who have a lot of money, no matter if that money was earned honestly, or not.
If the way Microsoft did business is very good, right, and moral, then why not teach this to our kids in our schools? Lacking in creativity? getting bad grades? Pay off your teacher. Buy your way through school through manipulation, power, and influence. Isn't that what Microsoft has done in the real world, except they have bought their way through the government enough to dispell public scrutiny? If we let Microsoft do this, are we not doing our kids a disservice because we are not teaching them the way the world is? Maybe the correct way is not democracy, but to make as much money as possible, any way you can, buying your way through life, and forgetting people who have less power than you?
If we would let Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer take over the world, I would have to say, your free speech would be removed, you would have to pay to post your words here on Slashdot, and your words would of course be censored, and only speech that would glorify Microsoft's cause as long as Bill and Steve could use it propaganda for their empire. They are no different than one country trying to take over the world. There are governments in their way and they will be dealt with accordingly.
Your choice. Freedom or Bondage. I want freedom. In everything I do, I do those things that promote those ideals. In regards to computing, I use a lot of Open Source software, like Linux and Mac OS X, Open Office, and Firefox (stuff Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer do not want me to use because it does not suit their purposes) not closed source garbage, like MS-Windows, Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer (stuff that would lock me in to giving Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer perpetual money without them having to earn it from me.)
That guy in prison is a small pirate. Bill Gates and Co. is part Mafia, part Pirate. Mafia, where if you are doing something not to his liking, not to his profit, he will break your business legs. Pirate, because he is imposing demand of payment, a toll of passage that could otherwise be offered free by anyone else. And, like the Mafia and Pirates have stolen stuff themselves and has paid off enough legislature and judges to have gotten away with it.
Haven't you heard of the term "Pirates of Silicon Valley"? He was one of them. Steve Jobs was a big-guy pirate wanna be poser, and got his butt kicked by the real Pirates (IBM, circa 1989 - and Microsoft) - Aaaarrrrrrggggg!
The RIAA is another Pirate/Mafia organization.
Steve Ballmer has a chair-cannon on his Pirate ship.
It would be smart to write it in such a way, that you could choose your operating system. We wouldn't want to be locked into one particular vendor's software, now would we. That would kind of fly in the face of an Open, Free, and Fair market system.
Microsoft Surface idea not that new? http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/32389/118/
I just love the openness internet. If Microsoft tried this 10 to 15 years ago, they might have gotten away with it as an original idea. But it is not. Why do you think more politics have to be added to the Patent system? So Microsoft can continue to appear to be innovative when they have faked most of it all along? You don't need to spend 7.1 Billion dollars a year on R&D. Just use Google for free and cut that cost at least by half, if not more! Spend the other half on feeding the poor, or rebuilding from the devastation of Katrina, for example.
This is why Microsoft has a lot of money. While I don't like Microsoft for most of the reasons of their existence, in pure business dollars, they were smart to offload the burden of hardware onto other companies, early on (while they "owned" the distribution and development channels.) Then they would not have to deal with cases such as the ones that Dell, HP, and Apple have had to deal with in the past. In recent years, trying to market the XBOX, they soon realized why they didn't want to get into the hardware side in the first place. You can hide imperfections easier in closed source software. (In open Source software, any knowledgeable person can see and even fix the imperfections.) The imperfections these other companies have to deal with are obvious. And of course, I have never seen software explode. Oh wait... BSOD.
And program in Commodore Basic a database program that writes records to cassette tape, and index all your books. I would leave your C-64 on all the time so you don't have to reload your index files from tape. I you want more spped, upgrade to a 1571 disk drive, or a Lt. Kernel Hard Drive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lt_Kernal)
You can scan in images of your book covers with a scanning device you make at home (search google.com yourself for plans.)
reporter writes: "According to a report recently filed by the Washington Post, Microsoft has finally begun to crackdown on software piracy ... with a twist. The Microsoft corporation is targeting political enemies with claims of piracy, including independent news media, political parties, and private advocacy groups. In particular, 'the newspaper the Wall Street Journal, one of the last outposts of critical journalism in the U.S.A., suspended publication of its regional edition in the Eastern city of New York on Monday after prosecutors opened a criminal case against its editor, alleging that his publication used unlicensed software (Open Office and the GIMP on Linux)'"
Since MULTICS is the father of ALL modern OSes (which would include that trash heap, Windblows) it should provide a multitude of algorithms and processes that people are now trying to Patent and pass off as an Original Invention. This is a very good piece of history. Some people would rather you forget where you came from so they can take advantage of you in the marketplace.
This caught my eye...
"It should come as no surprise that if people think they can hide illegal activity they will attempt to."
'People' also means groups of people, which can also include Microsoft, who has long since denied any wrongdoing of growing their collection of software and inventions since their inception. Yet... they insist that they are protecting their Intellectual Property by hiding the source code to Windows and other Microsoft softwares. How can we know for sure (in the public eye) that they themselves have not stolen software from others over the years. Law is about absolutes. It is enforced with absolute counter-measures, unless a payoff can lessen a punishment and the bribe can be hidden from others eyes that care about such matters.
So this goes for corporations as well as common citizens, no?
And another thought....
And I always thought the death of Gary Kindall, was a bit fishy.
http://www.ipopisp.com/marksofesteem18.asp
Perhaps he could have shut down the operations of a particular large monopolistic software company with some carefully placed testimony that closed source software could not conceal?
Maybe he got hit with a thrown chair at the bar and died?
I certainly hope this did not happen. But mafia-types tend to protect their profits in unlawful and immoral ways. (Did you ever see the Godfather movie series? If my comments are considered slander, I blame it on watching the Godfather as a kid and seeing "the Pirates of Silicon Valley." )
---
The power of an open internet... showing mankind itself for all it is...
Microsoft is still trying. Linux is there and it (and other OSes) can be embedded on one chip.
This will only speed the retirement of Bill Gates, with Steve Ballmer throwing chairs all by himself. This could be the end of Microsoft as we know it in this generation, for sure, unless Microsoft can get their monopoly conviction appealed and buy and purchase all related intellectual property to a BIOS system. This could get better than Super Bowl Sunday! Microsoft will be filing lawsuits for sure just to be come the next Super-SCO. To see if this will pan out, look for the signs of trouble, particularly coming from Microsoft. They have a hefty burden of profit to generate and they can't let their investors down.
That is why mechanical patents need to disappear, since all someone has to do is come up with a CAD drawing, and the idea can be patented.
Sorry, but basically what you are saying is we can patent "how" electricity flows. The patent system was never meant to patent concepts, but actual things that are tangible. Not arrangements of electrons. Patents, and ever more so U.S. patent law has been in existence since the beginnings of the U.S government. The founding fathers were against patenting concepts alone and before any actual product was made.
There is law for what you are talking about. It is Copyright, and it is enough. You can't compare a CAD drawing to a Flowchart and expect them to mean that because they show how a thing goes together that they mean the same thing in law. They do not pertain to the same kinds of physical manifestations in the real universe. Business process patents are based also on a flowchart. Are the courts are deeming them ridiculous. Software patents are next. And if this issue of software patents were relevant, then the whole SCO vs IBM would be more based on Patent Law then it was on Copyright. That case sets a precedence and proves that we were ONLY dealing with Copyright law not too long ago, and that software patents are a "recent" development in respect to the whole history and past of computer software.
So then how can a person with little or no money to throw at software can keep up with all hoops and processes of the law? This is how computers and programming evolve... copying and sharing of ideas. So the U.S. government just wants monopolies to form. Just screw the free-market system, screw the consumer, and screw the citizens that the U.S. is suppose to protect. Protect the interests of corporations at the expense of citizens' freedoms? George Bush needs to go.
That is why software patents need to disappear, since all someone has to do is come up with a flowchart, and the idea can be patented. And what makes one think that the flowchart is even accurate to the idea that the program expresses? Copyright law is ENOUGH protection. Copyrighting the code is enough.
Want to lock ideas up and stall innovation and take away freedoms of the people via taking away freedoms of the programmer? Just keep on doing what the U.S. is doing with software patents. Another step in the direction of the U.S. becoming the next U.S.S.R.
----
Bill Gates Supports Planned Parenthood - http://prolifepc.com/
I found this on the web.
http://prolifepc.com/ - ProlifePC.com calls for a boycott of Microsoft because of the contributions from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Microsoft to Planned Parenthood.
Remember bCentral? I used to have a banner from the Link Exchange. Microsoft bought up a lot of banner companies, including the Link Exchange, and placed it under bCentral. I ditched it as soon as Microsoft started asking for money. Gee, that was back in 1998? So, if Microsoft can't make a banner business succeed, why are they complaining about Google's success? Oh, because it wasn't them? It isn't fair? Haven't I heard this before from Microsoft's competitors when Microsoft was king? Is Microsoft now the paun? Oh, Microsoft, where is thou sting?
v ices-transition.mspx
So Google is not violating anti-trust. They are being a better competitor (I heard this too about Microsoft back in the day when Microsoft was slaying (mafia-style) companies and stealing technology - Caldera DOS, Stacker, Wordperfect, Visi-calc, Corel Products on Linux, Commodore/Amiga, CP/M, Lotus-123, Netscape to name a few...)
Of course, if Microsoft goes back and renigs on 20 years of anti-trust testimony defense and allows itself to be broken up and pay hefty fines that would bankrupt you for it's past sins, then I would say Google is heading toward monopoly status. But as it stands, Microsoft was a huge reason for the law to be blind about what Microsoft was doing. So they are "blind" now. Too bad Microsoft. You dug your own grave. There is still time to admit you were wrong and be held accountable.
bCentral
========
As of November 15, 2006 Microsoft will no longer accept new sign-ups for select Microsoft Online Small Business Services.
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/online/ser
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If a computer company gives you that amount of trouble and hassle, do the politically correct thing and install Linux and don't look bck.
And if you are going to buy a new system, get a Mac mini!
Oh please delay it!!! Indefinately!!!! Promise you will delay the release of Vista!!
I see that there are people on both sides of this issue. But many may not have been around long enough to remember what happened when Microsoft adopted outside formats to be used in Microsoft Office. The WordPerfect format was used only to help migrate many people from WordPerfect to Microsoft Office. This is because one could use a WordPerfect doc in Microsoft Office, but not use a Microsoft Office doc in WordPerfect really well. Yes, their were import filters. But those worked just as well as filters working to import Microsoft Office documents into Open Office today. WHy do you think Open Office wants to adopt the Open Document format? And aside from other things Microsoft did to ensure WordPerfect's demise, this was one of the methods Microsoft used to gain monopolistic dominance. Microsoft KNOWS HOW TO DESTROY a document format and a business. And it was just before the time Microsoft had an incident with Stac Electronics. Adobe welcomes Open Office because Open Office encourages the PDF format while not directly threatening it's future existance. And Adobe also welcomes the use of PDF on Apple because Apple directly licensed the technology for use in MAC OS X. But Microsoft has had a legacy of Divide and Conquer. Microsoft does not have the trust because they have not earned it over the years. They have not truely repented. They do not admit fault. They show no compassion. So that is what they have earned. They can not integrate technology openly. They do not know how. All they know how to do is buy out, aquire, or kill off technology. They do not know how to be nice and play fair. And this is where Microsoft loses. Microsoft is no longer king of the forest and they need to be for their business model to survive.
You can call me a troll. You can call me bad or a negative thinker, but the Truth is the Truth. And sometimes the truth hurts because people do not want to accept it. I have been involved with personal computers for the past 30 years way before Windows 3.0 and I know whats up. Microsoft has an established legacy and Adobe knows what kind of legacy it is. They are simply staying away from it by making this choice and it is pitiful for Microsoft that Microsoft has the character it does, a character that was established for a long period of time for the various decisions it has made in relevance to open and honest competition and the marketplace. They have abused both.
And with Unix, Linux, and BSD, the door locks come preinstalled, ready to protect.
I do not run any anti-virus software on my Macs, Linux, or Solaris boxes. The security that is part of the OS is THAT good. (MS-Windows does not have this built-in security. Anti-Virus is security for Windows systems.) The bad thing about any technology is, if one does not know how to properly configure it, one will not realize the full potential of the software. Anti-virus is a band-aid fix. I did not use Linspire Linux when it was Lindows because they ran the desktop in root mode all the time. I will use Linspire now because they configure it with privileged accounts. Mac is configured right from Apple to run an account as an Administrator with out too much fuss to change the account type. So yeah, then Apple users would need Anti Virus software because they run the computer in admin mode. But why? Configure the Mac to use privileged accounts and forget about Anti-virus! Then it is as good as Unix. With Linux, all distrubutors configure Linux to use privileged accounts. So again, why bother with Anti-virus.
Creating an OS without adequate security built into the kernel and file system is like selling a car or a house without door locks that can be added later as an option. This is what Microsoft does. Mac sells the door locks with the house, but expects the user to install them.
Vista will suck JUST LIKE all the other Windows versions have. If you want to solve the MS-Windows release problem, we should have made the former judge Jackson's judgement stick, "Break up Microsoft." That is the only way we will see MS-Windows problems disappear. They will never reall FIX them. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer still need to be in their bad money making scheme of forcing trash onto the user.
No, that was yesterday, as in the day preceeding today. We can't get over it because it keeps coming back, as well and Malware and Virus attacks. Now if you are talking Unix technology, then yeah. The last time I thought of the BSoD was when I had Windows on my PC or when I was running it in Win4Lin on Linux.