Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 5th Jul 2011 22:12 UTC
"One of Microsoft's hottest new profit centers is a smartphone platform you've definitely heard of: Android. Google's Linux-based mobile operating system is a favorite target for Microsoft's patent attorneys, who are suing numerous Android vendors and just today announced that another manufacturer has agreed to write checks to Microsoft every time it ships an Android device. Microsoft's latest target is Wistron Corp., which has signed a patent agreement 'that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for Wistron's tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome platform', Microsoft announced." That's the reality we live in, folks. This is at least as criminal - if not more so - than Microsoft's monopoly abuse late last century. After the Nortel crap, it's completely left the black helicopter camp for me: Microsoft, Apple, and several others are working together to fight Android the only way they know how: with underhand mafia tactics. Absolutely sickening. Hey Anonymous, are you listening? YES I WENT THERE.
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RE[8]: Patents are patents
by lucas_maximus on Wed 6th Jul 2011 07:43
in reply to "RE[7]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2009-08-18
RE[8]: Patents are patents
by lucas_maximus on Wed 6th Jul 2011 18:21
in reply to "RE[7]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2009-08-18
[q]Nobody forced them to gamble ... they didn't get ripped off ... most Casinos even explain the odds of you winning at any particular game ... if they still continue ... knowing that the odds are stacked against you ... that is their fault.
Most people have a regretably limited understanding of mathematics. Even some people who are reasonably good at arithmentic are still susceptible to the illusion that they might win at gambling. I am still amazed that people can walk in to a magnificent, opulent, extravagant casino and be impressed, somehow utterly missing the fact that it is gambler's money that pays for the extravagence. "Voluntary taxation" is how I like to think about it.
It is called an "idiot tax" ... those less able to see the scam for what it is end up spending more ... 90%+ of all business is done on this basis.
But anyway ... people can, and do, complain about gambling, even though as I pointed out, it is legal in many jurisdictions. This is the main point to take away ... one should not moan and complain that some people campaign against legal gambling, because there is good reason for those complaints, and many people are demonstrably harmed from the gambling industry.
And lots of people are harmed and stressed out everyday by things like their job, family, spouses etc ... You point is what ... at the end of the day it is still upto an individual to look after themselves once they are an adult and are mentally and physically able.
The parallels with software patents are pretty clear. There is an alternative software industry
There are no parallels.
called FOSS that pays programmers, produces innovative world-class software and reduces costs for everyone. The potential economic benefit to the entire economony is absolutely enormous.
For big businesses it does, they have the resouces to develop and support open source. Those who are smaller especially small teams have nothing to gain from open source ... if they open source their tech ... their largest competitor can take the application and support it ... the smaller company loses out almost immediately.
As for Software patents ... say If I am a sole developer and I develop an application and it is closed source ... how do I protect my the main selling point (assuming it is good) of say google or microsoft just taking the idea and creating their own ... they have many times the magnitude of resource???
Software patents could kill this golden goose ... yet there are people still who somehow champion software patents. That is rather like barracking for the casino bosses and saying "ha ha" to the gamblers who suicide ...
No it isn't ... you compairing suicide to a business asking for money that they are legally entitled to isn't directly comparable ... this is batshit insane to make that connection ... I honestly wonder whether you live in the real world at all.
One is tragic ... the other one is business ... other than the handing over of some cash money there is no loss in human life ... do you actually think before you write this drivel?
In order to counter the argument that software patents are an economic burden rather than an economic boon (as some people like to pretend), you must read, understand and make intelligent comment on these topics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_scarcity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss
Until you demonstrate a point against these concepts, you have NOT established any case for software patents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_scarcity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss
Until you demonstrate a point against these concepts, you have NOT established any case for software patents.
I have already addressed an example where software patents might actually be beneficial above.
HoweverI wasn't arguing for or against software patents ... I was actually arguing that you cannot compare various social problems like addiction to software patents ...
RE[8]: Patents are patents
by pantheraleo on Wed 6th Jul 2011 18:35
in reply to "RE[7]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2007-03-07
The parallels with software patents are pretty clear. There is an alternative software industry called FOSS that pays programmers, produces innovative world-class software and reduces costs for everyone
Not this tired old argument again.... Name me one piece of "innovative world-class" software that has come out of FOSS. The vast majority of FOSS are clones of commercial products... And often rather poor clones with little documentation at that.
The potential economic benefit to the entire economony is absolutely enormous.
The UNIX companies that no longer exist, and the UNIX programmers that lost their jobs because commercial UNIX could no longer compete against a free alternative might beg to disagree with you about the benefits of FOSS to the economy... At least to their economy... Just sayin'...
RE[9]: Patents are patents
by Nth_Man on Thu 7th Jul 2011 17:52
in reply to "RE[8]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2010-05-16
The vast majority of FOSS are clones of commercial products
I hope you realize that the vast majority of proprietary software are clones of previous software :-)
Though, thankfully, a lot of "clones" bring some features that the original did not.
... And often rather poor clones with little documentation at that.
At least, as it is libre/free software, you can improve the documentation and so collaborate, and we all benefit.
Often, proprietary software has the same problems of documentation and so, see
http://www.tucows.com/downloads?hp=A2
(a lot of programs).
The key is using the better programs, not most of the ones you often find.
Commercial UNIX could no longer compete against a free alternative might beg to disagree with you about the benefits of FOSS to the economy... At least to their economy... Just sayin'...
One key to improve the economy is to have jobs that are really useful, if one worker has done something, like inventing the wheel, other worker must not reinvent it, this is the about the idea of really useful jobs, and put resources into more useful places :-)
RE[9]: Patents are patents - FOSS software
by jabbotts on Fri 8th Jul 2011 17:50
in reply to "RE[8]: Patents are patents"
Member since:2007-09-06
"Name me one piece of "innovative world-class" software that has come out of FOSS."
Apache seems like a pretty popular open source bit of software though perhaps not the first html server.
OpenSSH is pretty nice stuff but again, there may be a ClosedSSH that came before it?
PHP seems like a popular programming language. Not sure what we can claim for innovation but it seems pretty popular.
Truecrypt is the definitive full drive encryption at this time and also happens to be developed under an open source license.
Perhaps the TCP stack Microsoft took from BSD? That may be too esoteric.
Metasploit. It is indeed innovative (before it, no framework for developing and using exploit code existed).
Firfox, if not now, was an innovative browser in the beginning.. and also developed under open source licenses.
Given that sharing source code and developing colaboratively goes all the way back to the model train nerds at MIT open source actually provided the first real innovations in the computer industry. computer based generation and manipulation of music. the first graphic video game; use of atual star charts; simulation of environmental affects like gravity.
Sure, not everything developed under open or closed licenses are innovative but to discount any software written under a specific development model as uninovative just because of the development model? seems like you may be trying to counter-balance lemur's opinion with an equally extreme opinion?
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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2007-02-17
Most people have a regretably limited understanding of mathematics. Even some people who are reasonably good at arithmentic are still susceptible to the illusion that they might win at gambling. I am still amazed that people can walk in to a magnificent, opulent, extravagant casino and be impressed, somehow utterly missing the fact that it is gambler's money that pays for the extravagence. "Voluntary taxation" is how I like to think about it.
But anyway ... people can, and do, complain about gambling, even though as I pointed out, it is legal in many jurisdictions. This is the main point to take away ... one should not moan and complain that some people campaign against legal gambling, because there is good reason for those complaints, and many people are demonstrably harmed from the gambling industry.
The parallels with software patents are pretty clear. There is an alternative software industry called FOSS that pays programmers, produces innovative world-class software and reduces costs for everyone. The potential economic benefit to the entire economony is absolutely enormous. Software patents could kill this golden goose ... yet there are people still who somehow champion software patents. That is rather like barracking for the casino bosses and saying "ha ha" to the gamblers who suicide ...
In order to counter the argument that software patents are an economic burden rather than an economic boon (as some people like to pretend), you must read, understand and make intelligent comment on these topics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_scarcity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss
Until you demonstrate a point against these concepts, you have NOT established any case for software patents.
Edited 2011-07-06 00:51 UTC