On Wed, Dec 07, 2016 at 08:10:35AM +0000, Simon Hobson wrote:
> The first bit is correct - most proprietary software is encumbered by
> patents, DMCA restrictions, and all that stuff - I almost said "all that
> carp" but that would be wrong since both patents and (to a much lesser
> extent) DMCA do have positive benefits, it's just that the systems
> (especially patents) are broken and not implemented in a way that supports
> what they were introduced for.

Eh? "Patents do have positive benefits"?!? How come?

The reason patents were introduced for was getting more money for the king.
Then it got downhill from there.

There was no point in time when they were beneficial to the society.

As for the myth that they "promote innovation" and that current cases are
just abuse rather than patents working as designed, let's take a look at
light bulbs:

In 19th century, there was a lot of researchers with a lot of distinct
ideas. They freely copied ideas from each other, gradually improving their
designs and trying lots of different approaches, some successful, some not.
Then came Edison. His "invention" was just a yet another improvement, yet
he used the patent system to shut down any competing research hard -- by
issuing bogus patents, litigating them and buying out patents when he
couldn't. His company continued this until WW2.


Meow!
--
u-boot problems can be solved with the help of your old SCSI manuals, the
parts that deal with goat termination. You need a black-handled knife, and
an appropriate set of candles (number and color matters). Or was it a
silver-handled knife? Crap, need to look that up.