Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 13th Apr 2012 09:40 UTC
"Oracle's case against Google has evolved primarily into a copyright infringement suit over the past several months, and with the full trial scheduled to begin this coming Monday, the court is making an effort to get down to the nuts and bolts of copyright law. The judge issued an order last week requiring that both Google and Oracle provide their respective positions on a fundamental issue in the case: 'Each side shall take a firm yes or no position on whether computer programming languages are copyrightable'." Seems like an easy enough answer to me, especially since Oracle's example doesn't hold up at all - Oracle points to Klingon's custom glyphs to illustrate that a language can fall under copyright, but unlike Klingon, a programming language uses standard glyphs we all use every day. Arguing you can copyright that is borderline psychotic, and opens up a whole can of worms.
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RE[2]: Java is a Fictional Language
by jburnett on Fri 13th Apr 2012 20:20
in reply to "RE: Java is a Fictional Language"
Member since:2012-03-29
Anyway, keep in mind that Sun released Java under GPL on May, 2007, under pressure in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, and guess who was pressing to get that this way, yeh, Oracle. Really, they are going to have a hard time on court about that.
As far as I know, the only thing Google has to fear is the distribution of Java definitions with unauthorized changes (changing license or removing of copyright notices). And as big as it may end, it will never be close to what Oracle hoped for as would be hard to claim deprivation of property from something made public.
As far as I know, the only thing Google has to fear is the distribution of Java definitions with unauthorized changes (changing license or removing of copyright notices). And as big as it may end, it will never be close to what Oracle hoped for as would be hard to claim deprivation of property from something made public.
I am in agreement with you here. I think this is a very difficult case for Oracle to win on these grounds alone. I just object to the idea that programming languages are somehow fundamentally uncopyrightable material.
It is very disputed whether java is distinctive enough to qualify as a new language or a derivative work. One that unluckily will be decided on court. To be true, the only distinctive quality of java, when it was "released" to the world, was the promise to write once, run everywhere without the need to recompilation, what it never fulfill.
Your examples about what you consider your creation is also a source of dispute, one that we see every day in day out. If you doubt, just "google" for plagiarism. Modifying little blocks or add some does not constitute a new work. The problem is: who will be the arbiter?
Your examples about what you consider your creation is also a source of dispute, one that we see every day in day out. If you doubt, just "google" for plagiarism. Modifying little blocks or add some does not constitute a new work. The problem is: who will be the arbiter?
It may be arguable whether Java is distinctive enough to qualify as a derivative work. It is probably a question of fact rather than law though.
I remember when Java came out, it certainly seemed different from everything else. It had the promise of write once run anywhere, but the syntax was also quite different. I had to port a lot of code from C/C++ to Java. It was, to my educated eyes, very different. It felt much like smalltalk, yet different from even that. Different enough to give me anger management issues while pounding 20oz bottles of cherry coke at 3am in the lab... those were good times... never had so much fun in my life.
Still, this is probably a moot point because I doubt the case will get past the open source issue.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
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!More Features »
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It is very disputed whether java is distinctive enough to qualify as a new language or a derivative work. One that unluckily will be decided on court. To be true, the only distinctive quality of java, when it was "released" to the world, was the promise to write once, run everywhere without the need to recompilation, what it never fulfill. Your examples about what you consider your creation is also a source of dispute, one that we see every day in day out. If you doubt, just "google" for plagiarism. Modifying little blocks or add some does not constitute a new work. The problem is: who will be the arbiter?
Anyway, keep in mind that Sun released Java under GPL on May, 2007, under pressure in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, and guess who was pressing to get that this way, yeh, Oracle. Really, they are going to have a hard time on court about that.
As far as I know, the only thing Google has to fear is the distribution of Java definitions with unauthorized changes (changing license or removing of copyright notices). And as big as it may end, it will never be close to what Oracle hoped for as would be hard to claim deprivation of property from something made public.