David Feuer
dfeuer@his.com
dfeuer@binx.mbhs.edu
Open Source: Think locally; act globally.
On Wed, 23 Dec 1998, Nicholas J. Leon wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Dec 1998, Richard Stallman wrote:
>
> # The US Constitution and the US legal system have an interesting view
> # of the question--and it isn't what most people think it is. Their
> # view is that patents don't exist for the sake of patent owners. The
> # official reason for patents in the US is "to promote progress."
>
> While I've been following this thread for what seems to be years now,
> something has struck me as being missed by most posters.
>
> We all must remember that regardless of the literature, the United States
> isn't a democracy[1]. We are a country ruled by corporations and
> businesses. Our laws are in that direction was well as the apparent "will"
> of our leaders.
>
> Patents, copyrights, personal rights, intellectual rights: step back a
> second a look at the laws that govern those concepts. There is a definate
> pattern. They provide rights in favor of business, and reinforce personal
> behavior patterns that benefit them.
>
They didn't start out this way....... Oh well.
> Things aren't going to change here, I'm afraid. Though it goes against the
> grain of my programming self, in this case we need to think solely about
> 'work arounds', not 'bug fixes' because we never will get our way.
>
The generic patent workaround: come up with something ever-so-slightly
better and patent it. For example: given a patented compression
algorithm, if you can come up with a new one that
a) compresses files over 5GB to 1 bit less than the original
b) adds some implicit redundancy coding.
c) runs 1% faster on a PCjr or
d) uses 4 bytes less memory.
> <pessimism off>
>
> My $0.02 ...
>
>
> [1] which, imho, is a very poor choice for a system of government.
> Popularity != ability to lead.
So how would you structure the government? It is awfully hard to come up
with a system in which the ability to lead plays a major role.
>
> G'day!
>
> -- n i c h o l a s j l e o n
> / elegance through simplicity /
> / good fortune through truth / http://mrnick.binary9.net
> / not all questions have answers / mailto:nicholas@binary9.net
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