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Software Patents are the most stupid things ever invented >_<
Now excuse me while I go and curse the guy who ever came up with that idea.
Im going to find the IP of this guy’s and upload my foot to it.
God. Dammit. >_<.
How does this affect me?
It will only affect Americans.
And I can only guess it will result in more expensive games. Most software patenting leads to something becoming more expensive.
American society is increasingly becoming a society in which one needs permission from corporate interests in order to use what should be the public domain. See article in the New York Times Magazine from two Sundays ago.
Sorry Wert, but I can’t help but mock you. See, most of us simply don’t care 
Originally posted by Tomiko
Sorry Wert, but I can’t help but mock you. See, most of us simply don’t care
This reminds me of an old quote from the WW2, it goes like this:
FIrst they came for the Jews. But I did not speak up, for I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Gypsies. But I said nothing, for I was not a Gypsie. Then they came for the niggers, but I said nothing, for I was not a nigger. Then they came for the homosexuals, yet I still shut up, for I was not a homosexual. Then they came for me. And by that time, there was noone left to speak up for me, for they were all gone.
Any reason you must care? Nope. But also remember that once things go bad, you have no right to protest. You willingly gave that right away.
“Value your freedom, or you’ll loose it, teaches history. “Don’t bother us with politics!” responds those who do not wish to learn.” - Richard M Stallman, founder of GNU and the Free Software Foundation
Software patents are something that concerns us all, as they’re next to always a Bad Thing™. Not only for us developers, but for the end users as well. That’s why you should care. Not saying you must. Not saying you go to hell if you don’t. Just that if you don’t, you have no right to protest if things take a wrong turn.
Now, if you got nothing better to add than personal assaults on my persona or rude comments about my mom, then I suggest you STFU. 'k?
Originally posted by Tomiko
Sorry Wert, but I can’t help but mock you. See, most of us simply don’t care
Oh my, what a thought-free comment. Do you even have an idea what’s all been patented? Someone in Australia patented the wheel a few years ago. Sending gifts via Internet is patented. Clicking on a single button to buy stuff is patented. The progress bar is patented. Swinging a child’s toy in certain way is patented. The abuse of the system is horrible and the damage to the society and the public cannot be overseen or underestimated.
It’s just good for the establishment that many people share your view or something would actually change.
Edit: Speaking of “How does that concern me?” It is pretty simple, actually. As soon as you use something with a patent on it, you are infridging on it. With those overly broad patents, literally everyone on the planet is infriding. Now, of course, they will not go after everyone, but what if you have an opinion that the big corporations don’t like? They sue you for violating some patents you have never heard of. Have fun trying to defend yourself, patent lawsuits cost around 1 million dollars.
How DARE you compare software patents to the fucking Holocaust! Sure, its bad that they’re doing this, but damnit- they aren’t killing and torturing millions. That comparison disgusts me.
Originally posted by Cybercompost
How DARE you compare software patents to the fucking Holocaust! Sure, its bad that they’re doing this, but damnit- they aren’t killing and torturing millions. That comparison disgusts me.
Now now, that is untrue. That quote is meant to seen in the contrast of the “that does not concern me, I don’t care, no need to do anything”-mentality that is prevalent. It is not Holocaust-specific and wasn’t meant to be. BTW, it is quoted quite often because it (sadly) applies a lot.
I’m with CC. We’re talking about tacking on a couple of extra dollars to things in a worst-case scenario, not killing and murdering. Computers may be your life, but they’re not everyone’s. I’m sure you can find other ways to get your point across.
And Maboroshi, you’re only reinforcing Tomiko’s point. All the stuff you mentioned is patented, and yet our lives haven’t been noticeably affected by that. Why should we care if yet another thing is patented?
<img src=“http://www.rpgclassics.com/staff/tenchimaru/td.gif”> Basically, a software patent is what it sounds like, a software patent. A patent on a few lines of code, a general concept in a program, etc. Which is one of the single stupidest concepts known to the digital world, since just about everything can be patented. Hell, I could patent the use of smileys on forums, and sue Merlin! >:(
Naturally, that’s bad. In this particular case, some fucknut basically patented how most online multiplayer games work. A bunch of sweaty 40 year olds with too much time on their hands connect to a server, run by an annoying 12 year old who likes to spawncamp. Then they all get together and shoot stuff, exchange insults, brag about their foot long penii, you know, counterstrike. This patent has patented the whole “people connect to a server” bit.
So that basically means that they can charge everyone–everyone–who uses that money. The developers, users, etc. To get back to the smiley bit, I could not only sue Merlin, but also Manus! Or Charl! Or that rascal Eden! They all owe me vast amounts of money!
Naturally, they’re not going to persecute everyone. The costs of that would be too high, time-consuming etc. So they’ll just stick to the developers, and charge them way too much money. This in turn causes videogames to become more expensive and makes developers not want to add in multiplayer support, or waste valuable time and money on finding ways to bypass the patent. Until their bypass gets patented as well.
So to sum it up, every gamer in the world can get fucked by the giant metal penis of big nameless corporations because of Software Patents. That’s bad, I’m not into that kinky stuff. So just ignore all the normal tech talk that goes with these threads, and just know that it is a <b>Bad Thing™</b>.
Also, Wert’s mom is TOTALLY hot.
Originally posted by Cidolfas
And Maboroshi, you’re only reinforcing Tomiko’s point. All the stuff you mentioned is patented, and yet our lives haven’t been noticeably affected by that. Why should we care if yet another thing is patented?
Because you infridge their patent if you play online and they can sue you for that. I do not say it will happen, I say that it can happen and you cannot protect yourself except if you pay them royalities or stop playing online (in this case). That may not mean much to you, but I’m horribly scared of the thought that the only reason I’m not paying money for every action I take is because I am too small to be seen.
Software patents are crap, but since 99% of all online games suck more than anything, it won’t hurt me as much. And all the other patents aren’t affecting things that much, either.
And as always, there are the hidden loopholes (God bless them!)
Wert, that quote was on a big poster in my exam room today.
But as has been repeatedly said, these companies are NOT going to go after everyone who does this kind of thing… hell, the algorithm used to make GIF pictures (which is a LOT more specific than any of these) has been patented for years, and yet I don’t recall hearing about a single website penalized for using GIFs on their sites. You can be worried if you like, but a) being worried won’t change anything, and b) there isn’t anything you personally can do about it right now anyway, so worrying about it is silly, especially given the extremely low likelihood of it affecting you in any way.
<img src=“http://www.rpgclassics.com/staff/tenchimaru/td.gif”> At worst, it can affect you indirectly by causing you to pay 5 dollars extra, or not getting certain online games. Big whoop. It’s really only a concern if you want to go into Comp Sci, making games and whatnot.
…like many people at RPGC want to, I’m sure <_<
Originally posted by Cidolfas
But as has been repeatedly said, these companies are NOT going to go after everyone who does this kind of thing… hell, the algorithm used to make GIF pictures (which is a LOT more specific than any of these) has been patented for years, and yet I don’t recall hearing about a single website penalized for using GIFs on their sites. You can be worried if you like, but a) being worried won’t change anything, and b) there isn’t anything you personally can do about it right now anyway, so worrying about it is silly, especially given the extremely low likeli’hood of it affecting you in any way.
Actually…
a) Being aware of the problems with software patents makes you make more informed choices. Example: GIF vs PNGs. Now, as anyone whom has experienced both formats for a while can tell you, PNGs are clearly superior. Yet it cannot do everything GIFs can, most notably it cannot do animations (even though there exists a format based on PNG for that, it’s not widely supported yet). So if I want an animation, I basicly have to resort to the goodness of a 256-color animated GIF, or even worse, install Flash and make a Flash animation. When it comes to regular images there are few, if any reasons to not use PNGs over GIFs.
b) I can do a whole fuggen lot to change things. One voice chanting “NO E-PATENTS” is weak; A million voices chanting the same thing will make a difference. Last time I checked, 600 000 Europeans has signed the “No E-Patents” petition, which actually stopped the software patents within EU. Yes, you read that right: IT STOPPED THEM. Period. While the battle is far from over, it’s a slight victory and proves that you actually can make a difference.
And Cid, just imagine the following; You write an application. It doesn’t have to be something big. Say that you write a PHP application for a Video Games store. All of a sudden, you get an angry e-mail from Amazon that tells you “You’re infringing on our patent for one-click shopping! See you in court.” All of a sudden you’re sued for writing something that’s neccessary for your business. Might not happen to you? Then it might happen to your favorite online store.
Still not convinced? Take this example then: Microsoft got fined for $520 Millions for infringing on a patent covering plugins. This might force Microsoft to remove support from plugins in their browser, Internet Explorer, completely. Right now they’re trying to do a different approach from what they did then, but it’s not certain that Eolas will satisfy with that. And Moz, Opera, Safari etc also will get hurt by it, since it means it’s now illegal to have plugins in a browser. Which Flash among other things happen to be.
Yes. You read that right too; no flash. At all. Needless to say, this hurts users and developers alike. So cut your bullshit “I don’t care, it’ll never happen to me!” argument. Fact is, it’ll hit you when and where you least expect it.
Am I against patents? Fuck yeah. But I have extremely good reasons for it.
If I’m a user (which the vast majority of people on these boards are; most people here are not developers) the only way it’ll affect me is by me having to pay a couple extra dollars for something. Frankly, I don’t give a damn how Microsoft does their plugins or their content. I don’t know how plugins work and I don’t care. Can it hurt developers? Sure, and it’s up to them if they want to stop that kind of thing. But patents are very, very rarely acted upon - and again, even if they are acted upon, generally all it does is hike prices up a bit rather than cause all innovation to stop.
And frankly, Wert, if you want to convince people to join an anti-patent movement, comparing it to the Holocaust will hurt your claims far more than bolster them. I wouldn’t sign anything you gave me after that outburst because I wouldn’t want to be associated with someone who could make that comparison in public.
I’m not saying patents are a good thing. (Well, besides for the people who make them, of course.) I’m just saying they’re not doomsday and they do not noticeably affect the average computer user who doesn’t know or care about the intricacies of how stuff works.
I don’t like large corporations, most of the time, and frankly, I’m with you wert, though I haven’t been hit by it yet, I do know where its going.