__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Tuesday 12 June 2007 14:37 \__
> Ian Hilliard <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> A Patent Lie
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Microsoft sang a very different tune in 1991. In a memo to his
>>> | senior executives, Bill Gates wrote, "If people had understood how
>>> | patents would be granted when most of today's ideas were invented,
>>> | and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete
>>> | standstill today." Mr. Gates worried that "some large company will
>>> | patent some obvious thing" and use the patent to "take as much of
>>> | our profits as they want."
>>> `----
>>>
>>
>> That large company is Microsoft and it is doing exactly as one of its
>> founders foretold.
>>
>
> This mess is 100% due to the foolishness of the USPTO being a) operated
> as a profit centre and b) permitting maths and art to be patented at
> all.
Some say that algorithms /are/ a form of art. Just days ago:
Software More an Art Than a Science?
,----[ Quote ]
| Merriam-Webster defines "art" as: "The conscious use of skill and creative
| imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects." It defines
| "engineering" as: "The design and manufacture of complex products."
`----
http://linux.sys-con.com/read/386543_p.htm
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Viruses to Linux are like cancer to a shark
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Tasks: 128 total, 1 running, 125 sleeping, 0 stopped, 2 zombie
http://iuron.com - knowledge engine, not a search engine
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