Star Discussion: Sherlock 3, AKA Watson Replica?
Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Fri 19th Jul 2002 18:36 UTC
Editorial Remember a month ago, when I urged the open source developers to take on this software and develop something equivelant and multi-platform? It seems that the only people who actually got interested in my $100 USD offer... was Apple.
E-mail Print r 0   · Read More · 43 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/12m
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
rain: about patents
by splinky on Fri 19th Jul 2002 20:27 UTC

Does a patent really show that they came up with the idea? nope, it just sais that they own it.

Well, two of the criteria for getting a patent is that it must be new and non-obvious. Both of these really rely on the same thing, the absense of prior art. In order to get a patent, it means a patent examiner was unable to find any prior reference to that technology.

So, the assumption is that they came up with it. There are holes, however. Prior art MAY exist and the examiner just failed to find it. But I have a hard time believing that patent examiners are so lax with MS patent apps that they all just go through.

I'll grant you that not all patents are inventions of earth shattering proportions ... my point was that people who say 'MS is not creative' just like to bash MS.

Apple on the other hand, they invented the GUI ... yeah right, I forgot.(snicker) Their success lies in taking technology and making it marketable ... hmm - sounds like somebody else I know.

--

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a MS lover / Apple basher. I have Windows, Mac, and Linux boxes (and still occasionally boot to BeOS too) - and I appreciate the differences that each one brings. I just think that if you truly examine the technology, you can see that it comes from all over. Every one of the big companies feeds on innovation from the others.

And as far as innovation goes ... just about everything is based on prior stuff, so it comes down to who extends it in useful ways.


(sorry about taking this thread way off topic)