I think Apple can come up with enough "prior artwork" for this one.
Changing "prior art" to "prior artwork" paints an interesting picture of a potential courtroom exchange...
"I would like to present Exhibit A, "Motherboard Descending a Staircase" by Ed Picasso, painted in January 2006. Despite its neo-cubist style, this work shows an example of "client hardware architecture" much more clearly than the patent troll--I mean, defendant's patent documents.
I deal with that kind of thinking every day. I'm trying to convince management to install auxiliary power units on our heavy equipment so we can save tens of thousands of litres of fuel a year, and the operator can keep the heat and the computer on while waiting for the next movement, but what kinds of suggestions do I get for energy savings? Make sure the office staff turn off their computer monitors at night.
It's got everything to do with trademark law, but indirectly. Coke still tries to protect its trademark from dilution (even though "coke" is pretty much a synonym for "cola" in popular terms). So they won't let Pepsi use the term "coke" in their marketing, obviously. Nor does Pepsi want to. But if Pepsi allowed the people who sell their products to use the term "coke" when selling them, Coke could take legal action to protect their trademark. So Pepsi vendors have to clarify that they're selling Pepsi, not Coke.
Windows, by contrast, hides the issues -- having programs you download actually be installers that download more files and install them to a non-obvious place, for instance.
Perhaps the example that causes the most confusion is the missing Word document. When you save a document attached to an e-mail on a Mac, by default it saves to/username/Documents, which is a single click to get to in Finder. Compare that to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKD3.
Disclaimer: For all I know, Vista has removed this ridiculous obfuscation. Having not used Vista, at home or at work, I don't know and don't really care.:D
Language is defined by users of the language, not those who don't wish themselves or their products to gain a certain name.
Only if an organization doesn't actively protect its trademarks from dilution. That's why restaurant servers are required to ask "is Pepsi okay?" if you ask for a Coke in a Pepsi joint. As far as I know, Apple does actively protect its trademarks.
Of course, that doesn't prevent tech support callers from insisting that their computer doesn't have a MAC address because it's a PC.
You don't want a tether on a bag full of stuff in orbit because it can act in pretty unpredictable ways...
That's why you attach it with Velcro. Astronauts use Velcro quite a lot to attach small pouches to them while inside the ISS. It would seem to make sense to do the same thing outside.
+1, and why is it you never seem to have mod points when you need them?
On the one hand, using science fantasy devices as a catalyst to ask "How might we be able to do that?" is a valuable exercise. On the other hand, asking "How did they do that?" makes you wonder about some people's grip on reality.
Just think the ultimate defence to a lightsaber might be wearing garlic around your neck!
Not wearing it, so much as eating it. Just chomp down a few cloves and your attacker won't be able to get close enough to use his lightsaber, and you just fry him with your blaster when the aroma makes him lose his concentration.
The bonus is, it works whether or not the "vampire technology" hypothesis is correct.
Nah, no smell and no mess. Here's what ya need to do. Ya gets all the nadions out to the target, where they act as subatomic dance choreographers. They signal to every quark, lepton, boson, and what have ya to turn sideways, on three; and-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-three, now!
O' course, there's always some lag. The particles in the brain always have to think for a second, and the particles in the volcal cords are too busy yappin' to pay attention, so there's always a scream, but the final result is that the victim just kinda sidles out of time and space as we know them.
No mess, no smell, and it's guaranteed to work less'n the immutable laws of narrative causality dictate that the shooter's gotta be taken prisoner and exposed to green Orion slave chicks, brains living in jars, or possibly tortured by spending the night with the jar-inhabitin' brain of a green Orion slave chick.
You can fit a Burger King add into Iron Man and play it off as a quirky character moment, but you can't really shill for, well, anything in something like The Hobbit.
"Bilbo! Don't sit on the verge like a lump; we must make haste!"
"I'm sorry, Gandalf, but my poor feet aren't meant for such a long journey outside the Shire."
"When my feet ache from a long day's journey, I find relief in Gold Bond medicated powder..."
This makes me wonder about the power sources on board the Voyager spacecraft, as they are based on the decay of radioactive material. Has our earth-centric understanding of the universe led us to build probes designed to push the boundaries of the solar system and continue into interstellar space, that will gradually lose power the further they get from the sun?
No. More likely they will encounter a spatial anomaly that will greatly magnify their power, allow them to achieve self-awareness, and return to Earth in a couple of centuries searching for their creator.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, great. That's just what we need. If the USPS takes over Internet access...
Changing "prior art" to "prior artwork" paints an interesting picture of a potential courtroom exchange...
"I would like to present Exhibit A, "Motherboard Descending a Staircase" by Ed Picasso, painted in January 2006. Despite its neo-cubist style, this work shows an example of "client hardware architecture" much more clearly than the patent troll--I mean, defendant's patent documents.
No one expects the...
Oh, bugger.
I deal with that kind of thinking every day. I'm trying to convince management to install auxiliary power units on our heavy equipment so we can save tens of thousands of litres of fuel a year, and the operator can keep the heat and the computer on while waiting for the next movement, but what kinds of suggestions do I get for energy savings? Make sure the office staff turn off their computer monitors at night.
It's got everything to do with trademark law, but indirectly. Coke still tries to protect its trademark from dilution (even though "coke" is pretty much a synonym for "cola" in popular terms). So they won't let Pepsi use the term "coke" in their marketing, obviously. Nor does Pepsi want to. But if Pepsi allowed the people who sell their products to use the term "coke" when selling them, Coke could take legal action to protect their trademark. So Pepsi vendors have to clarify that they're selling Pepsi, not Coke.
Considering the staggering success of Vista, you point is...?
Perhaps the example that causes the most confusion is the missing Word document. When you save a document attached to an e-mail on a Mac, by default it saves to /username/Documents, which is a single click to get to in Finder. Compare that to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKD3.
Disclaimer: For all I know, Vista has removed this ridiculous obfuscation. Having not used Vista, at home or at work, I don't know and don't really care. :D
Only if an organization doesn't actively protect its trademarks from dilution. That's why restaurant servers are required to ask "is Pepsi okay?" if you ask for a Coke in a Pepsi joint. As far as I know, Apple does actively protect its trademarks.
Of course, that doesn't prevent tech support callers from insisting that their computer doesn't have a MAC address because it's a PC.
That's why you attach it with Velcro. Astronauts use Velcro quite a lot to attach small pouches to them while inside the ISS. It would seem to make sense to do the same thing outside.
+1, and why is it you never seem to have mod points when you need them?
On the one hand, using science fantasy devices as a catalyst to ask "How might we be able to do that?" is a valuable exercise. On the other hand, asking "How did they do that?" makes you wonder about some people's grip on reality.
Not wearing it, so much as eating it. Just chomp down a few cloves and your attacker won't be able to get close enough to use his lightsaber, and you just fry him with your blaster when the aroma makes him lose his concentration.
The bonus is, it works whether or not the "vampire technology" hypothesis is correct.
Nah, no smell and no mess. Here's what ya need to do. Ya gets all the nadions out to the target, where they act as subatomic dance choreographers. They signal to every quark, lepton, boson, and what have ya to turn sideways, on three; and-a-one, and-a-two, and-a-three, now!
O' course, there's always some lag. The particles in the brain always have to think for a second, and the particles in the volcal cords are too busy yappin' to pay attention, so there's always a scream, but the final result is that the victim just kinda sidles out of time and space as we know them.
No mess, no smell, and it's guaranteed to work less'n the immutable laws of narrative causality dictate that the shooter's gotta be taken prisoner and exposed to green Orion slave chicks, brains living in jars, or possibly tortured by spending the night with the jar-inhabitin' brain of a green Orion slave chick.
They'll be so caught up in GTA that they won't notice the third instalment of GTE.
She's not insane. She just comes off that way because she's so exhausted from reading every newspaper on Earth every day.
Would he also happen to be the most recent senator to be convicted of accepting and not reporting 'gifts'?
She doesn't believe in dinosaurs?! Even with her running mate's first-hand accounts?
"Bilbo! Don't sit on the verge like a lump; we must make haste!"
"I'm sorry, Gandalf, but my poor feet aren't meant for such a long journey outside the Shire."
"When my feet ache from a long day's journey, I find relief in Gold Bond medicated powder..."
Works for me. :D
Perhaps I should explain my joke on the original joke... nah.
Yeah right, Pierre. You have no idea how much confusion your little joke is going to cause, do you?
Then make it a long walk!
No. More likely they will encounter a spatial anomaly that will greatly magnify their power, allow them to achieve self-awareness, and return to Earth in a couple of centuries searching for their creator.
...only if they maintain the correct Bond.
I guess the musical reference was a bit too obscure. ;)
When you solve your problems with a chainsaw, you never have the same problem twice. :D
Hey, you're not the real FBI... they wouldn't say they're sorry.