Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 1st Nov 2011 19:02 UTC
So, the White House has this site where American citizens can set up petitions, and once they've gained enough support in the form of signatures, the White House will respond. One of the very first petitions added to the site called for the abolition of software patents - both issued and for the future. The petition gained enough support, so the White House has responded. Hit read more for a summary of the respons.
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RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by WorknMan on Tue 1st Nov 2011 21:47
in reply to "it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2005-11-13
Otherwise, nice strategy politicians. Make a site that allows citizens to voice their opinions, and monitor how many people express support for an opinion that the establishment/lobbies/etc would never support. Then write an official response explaining how the the government sympathizes and takes steps that show that they care (even though these steps do nothing to address the demand). Then lock the petition so nobody else can sign.
LOL, are you really surprised though? I've already told Thom the deal (and of course got modded down for speaking the truth):
http://www.osnews.com/permalink?494526
So NOW do you believe it, Thom? All your little rants and petitions don't mean a goddamn thing, because the people you are pleading to do NOT work for you; they work for somebody else. And in this system, it's going to be damn near impossible to elect people in charge who aren't bought and paid for already.
Thus, if you want to make any sort of REAL change, you've got two options:
1. Pool your money together and pay the government more than the corporations do
2. Take over by force
So, if you haven't gotten the message yet, the government does NOT give a shit about you, and probably never will.
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by Thom_Holwerda on Tue 1st Nov 2011 21:48
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2005-06-29
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by Alfman on Tue 1st Nov 2011 21:57
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2011-01-28
WorknMan,
Though I agree changes are more likely to happen with greater money and force, what exactly is the problem with putting these things out in the open for all of us to talk about? Would you have all of us shut up and not talk about things which are wrong with the world because those who are in charge don't want it to change? Would that make the world any better? Why shouldn't we talk about these things?
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by umccullough on Tue 1st Nov 2011 22:30
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2006-01-26
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by melkor on Wed 2nd Nov 2011 02:23
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2006-12-16
You are, of course, 1000% correct.
Option 2 is looking very nice to be entirely honest - it is the ONLY way that the people will re-assert some honesty in our "elected"government(s). Sadly, the majority of our population is brainwashed, idiotic, lemming-like creatures who wouldn't get off their asses for the good of society if it hit them on the head.
Dave
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by abraxas on Wed 2nd Nov 2011 11:25
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2005-07-07
Thus, if you want to make any sort of REAL change, you've got two options:
1. Pool your money together and pay the government more than the corporations do
2. Take over by force
1. Pool your money together and pay the government more than the corporations do
2. Take over by force
You're leaving out other options. This IS a democracy. What we need is major campaign finance reform, probably on the level of a constitutional ammendment. Constitutional ammendments are voted on by the states so federal politicians and their corporate cronies have less control over the outcome.
RE[2]: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition
by Laurence on Wed 2nd Nov 2011 12:56
in reply to "RE: it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2007-03-26
LOL, are you really surprised though? I've already told Thom the deal (and of course got modded down for speaking the truth):
http://www.osnews.com/permalink?494526
You got modded down because you where just moaning about people reporting on the patent situation. Thus this article doesn't prove your point right as your point was that nobody should bother talking about patents - which is completely the wrong attitude (and again, why you got modded down).
/IF/ your point was that we should keep raising awareness and campaigning for change, but that change is unlikely to happen, then you would have been right and you would have been voted up accordingly.
Edited 2011-11-02 12:58 UTC
RE: it seems that you - start a new petition
by jabbotts on Wed 2nd Nov 2011 12:21
in reply to "it seems that you can no longer sign this petition"
Member since:2007-09-06
Petition is locked. Start a new petition.
How many times can the same topic be re-worded and supported by "the people" before they start to take more notice than a token page of "Government knows best now shut-up and eat your vegetables"?
Looks like they could do with some help changing the default Droopal icon in the browser tab too.
A new petition has been created.
by jrincayc on Fri 4th Nov 2011 12:58
in reply to "RE: it seems that you - start a new petition"
Member since:2007-07-24
A new petition on software patents has already been created:
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/pursue-software-pat...
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
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Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/15/13 23:03 UTC
"During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.More News »
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Member since:
2006-03-20
I'm a US citizen. I just created a whitehouse.gov account to sign this petition, but it seems that it is impossible to sign a petition once there has been an official response. If I'm wrong and I simply cannot find the link/button then please correct me.
Otherwise, nice strategy politicians. Make a site that allows citizens to voice their opinions, and monitor how many people express support for an opinion that the establishment/lobbies/etc would never support. Then write an official response explaining how the the government sympathizes and takes steps that show that they care (even though these steps do nothing to address the demand). Then lock the petition so nobody else can sign.
So 14K people responded to this within the course of a few weeks but any further support is silenced, and if people look back on it in the future, it seems as if only 14K people would support this. It's only a tiny fraction of the population. I guess the position is not popular at all. The overwhelming majority must love software patents, and that's why the US government will continue to issue them -- because they support the position of the 99%.