More on Fair Use, with a Note on Patents

Grok Headline matches for More on Fair Use, with a Note on Patents

Software patents are bad for coders like
literary patents would be for writers

Software patents are bad for coders like
literary patents would be for writers 06/22/2005 01:49 AM
Cory Doctorow: Richard Stallman, creator of the Free Software movement, has written a tremendous essay for the Guardian on the risks of software patents. Richard undertakes a gedankenexperiment about "literary patents" and the impact they would have had on Victor Hugo as he sat down to pen Les Miserables.

Now consider this hypothetical literary patent: Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and subsequently changes his name...

These patents would all cover the story of one character in a novel. They overlap, but they do not precisely duplicate each other, so they could all be valid simultaneously - all the patent holders could have sued Victor Hugo. Any one of them could have prohibited publication of Les Misérables.

You might think these ideas are so simple that no patent office would have issued them. We programmers are often amazed by the simplicity of the ideas that real software patents cover - for instance, the European Patent Office has issued a patent on the progress bar, and one on accepting payment via credit cards. These would be laughable if they were not so dangerous.

Link (Thanks, Phil and Eloisa!)

Munich OSS switch to go ahead, patents
or no patents

Munich OSS switch to go ahead, patents
or no patents 08/12/2004 09:52 AM
Merely paused for thought, says mayor

Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments

Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments 05/24/2004 06:24 AM
Super Science Fair Projects: Complete Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics and Experiments
http://www.super-sc ience-fair-projects.com/

Today your teacher announced that your school is going to have a science fair and students are responsible for exhibiting their projects. What do you feel? Enthusiastic? Despondent? Dreadful? Fearful? Excited?" This statement opens the Super Science Fair Projects site. Actually, whether student or parent, science fair projects, while great ways to get students actively involved in learning the scientific method and problem solving, can be tough assignments. This site may help you with one of the hardest parts: coming up with an idea. The site does a great job of walking the visitor through the steps needed to plan and implement a project, from Choosing a Topic, the Scientific Method, and writing the Project Report. There are even tips on displaying your project, rehearsing, winning over judges, and what to expect the day of the fair. This is definitely a great tool to tap into when planning a science fair project.[From The NSDL Scout Report for Math, Engineering, and Technology, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Apple: fair play or failure to play
fair?

Apple: fair play or failure to play
fair? 08/07/2004 01:18 AM
Is Apple playing fair or not? On the one hand, it's their device, their music store, and their software.

Note To Self #164

Note To Self #164 02/06/2003 02:03 AM
See this movie at all costs.

Note to self

Note to self 04/17/2004 07:31 AM
Remember: Never send email at 4:30 in the morning. Especially, if you are still drunk.

Sometimes I wish there was also an intelligent filtering system on my outbox as well as inbox. I wonder if I could rig SpamAssassin to delay outbound messages if they seem particularly stupid? Hey, it works for spam :)

PHP Everywhere: A Note from a .NET
Switcher

PHP Everywhere: A Note from a .NET
Switcher 03/28/2005 08:02 AM
In a quick pointer from PHP Everywhere today, he mentions a site, FellowshipChurch.com, and how they decided to become "switchers" from .NET to PHP.

Some RSS Feeds of Note

Some RSS Feeds of Note 03/20/2003 08:31 AM

On a lighter note...

On a lighter note... 03/20/2003 04:20 PM
South Florida made Business 2.0's list of The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2003: To honor James Earl Jones...

Quick note

Quick note 02/17/2004 02:28 PM
I'm so thoroughly jet-lagged that I am not finding this funny anymore (though I am pretty sure all my readers are). I woke up at 1 pm today (and I am rather lucky I did not have any meetings in the morning) by not waking up to the alarm clock. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that my alarm clock (and my cell phone) are still living in US time... So they would've woken me up at around 6 pm.

Oh, BTW, Loïc Le Meur really nails it. This is exactly what ETech was like. Smart guy - and no, he is not really stealing that G5, even though we all have photographic evidence of it.

Mental note to self........

Mental note to self........ 07/12/2004 01:03 AM
Check to see if cable modem is unplugged first...

programming note

programming note 11/12/2003 11:31 PM
The two entries that follow were written this afternoon during a big old Thunderstorm. We've been without power for about...

A Note on Security in PHP

A Note on Security in PHP 01/05/2005 04:43 PM
The PHP Development Team has issued an important statement that deals with the security of PHP, and of PHP-based applications. The trigger for releasing this statement was the growing misconception in the PHP community regarding recent security problems, which exploited bugs in PHP applications, rather than bugs in PHP itself. It's a recommended read for anybody using PHP.

Editor's note

Editor's note 05/05/2004 04:55 PM
Computer Times Asia May 5 2004 9:19PM GMT

marathon note

marathon note 06/28/2004 07:55 PM
Quick announcement:

Anne had lots of Marathon stuff written up (we compose everything offline in Textedit) and the fucking computer locked up. Like a bonehead, I'd forgotten to save it (along with some other important stuff) so it was lost.

I tried cashing in all my computer geek points to resurrect it, but it was DC 45, and all I got was a modified 8.

So that's been set back at least a few days. We both know how many of you guys who supported us and Kris are looking forward to the story wrapping up, but I hope you'll bear with us a little bit longer while our Real Lives take up most of our attention.

PHP.net: A Note on Security in PHP

PHP.net: A Note on Security in PHP 01/03/2005 10:17 AM
Over on the main PHP site, they have a new posting directed to the community for all those out there concerned about the security of PHP and the software that's been written in it.

ABCNEWS.com : The Note

ABCNEWS.com : The Note 02/11/2004 01:15 AM
some people are foolishly treating it as such .. "If Bill Clinton Had Done That..." 6/27 .. not burnishing his reputation .. the entire month of January .. not ready for primetime .. ABCNEWS.com : The Note .. political

abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
track this site | 5 links

Note About the Klips

Note About the Klips 08/16/2002 11:07 AM

made note of this

made note of this 09/14/2004 07:17 AM
Please stop .. been duped .. Wizbang .. Forger

wizbangblog.com/archives/003652.php
track this site | 4 links

A further note about Qtech

A further note about Qtech 03/28/2005 06:17 PM
ZDNet Mar 28 2005 9:25PM GMT

Marketers take note

Marketers take note 03/19/2003 10:42 PM

One thing I can't get out of my mind as we approach an impending war (in just 8 hours!) is the supreme display of marketing prowess on the part of the Bush Administration.

We were attacked by a rogue terrorist group on September 11, 2001. It seemed clear to me at the time that there would be a worldwide police action to find them and deal with them. It was six billion vs. a few hundred (a couple thousand, tops?). That wasn't the approach however, and we ended up bombing Afghanistan in an attempt to kill all the operatives that were still in the country. Perhaps it was the cold war era leaders in the administration, but even though we were attacked by a terrorist group and not a country, we decided to limit our actions to a response in another country.

But here's where the marketing comes in. We're not sure if we got the one guy we were looking for. After a few months, this country seems to give up on getting him, but instead of discussing failure, the conversation is shifted. We now need to remove another dictator that has been problematic in the past. Without much in the way of evidence of current wrongdoing, and in some cases outright lying, the majority went along with it. Not only was the conversation shifted, it remains shifted and the administration is achieving the goals it clearly set out to accomplish.

I don't know if you noticed, but this is huge. Imagine a marketing group saying that in 6 months, no one will talk about Google.com any more, we'll all be discussing Teoma or All The Web for anything search related, even though they don't have very many compelling reasons you should do so. Then imagine them pulling it off, and six months from now no one cares much for google.

Kudos to the Bush Adminstration for pulling off one of the biggest strokes of marketing genius I've ever seen.

Note to joshw

Note to joshw 02/19/2003 11:53 AM
If your blog requires registration to comment, most people will not....

Note to Readers

Note to Readers 01/27/2004 11:30 AM
Our traffic has been increasing, and we're seeing extremely high peak loads between 10:30 and noon EST.

An old note from my journalist course
days...

An old note from my journalist course
days... 12/17/2004 06:42 PM

So years ago I did a journalism course and one of the early lessons in news reporting was just an exercise in trying to collectively define news. It was a pretty heavily-directed effort, and I think it had to be, because like many other things that we're so used to in our everyday lives, it's weirdly difficult to explain to people. Anyway, I'm cleaning up my flat and I find the definition that we came up with on a piece of notepaper, and I'm looking at it and I'm thinking: "This is actually quite interesting - and possibly quite useful for people who are setting up subject-based weblogs". So here it is:

"New information of significance, interest or relevance which affects the lives or interests of a particular group of readers / listeners / viewers"

It's not perfect by any means, but it gives you some places to start when you're thinking about what to write. Know your audience, make sure you're giving them information, and make sure that the information is actually going to matter to them. It's not exactly revelatory information, but I figured someone out there might find it useful. And now I've transcribed it onto the net, it means that I can throw away the piece of paper!

Read the comments

Note taking in the Google age

Note taking in the Google age 08/05/2004 07:34 PM

I had a breakfast meeting with Professor Hirotaka Takeuchi about my doctorate program and I was taking notes in my moleskine notebook. I was jotting down just names and keywords and I think the professor thought it was a bit odd. I realized later that taking notes with intention of googling for everything is very different than taking complete notes. I had never noticed that I had started doing this.

Comment - TrackBack

A blue note for Bush

A blue note for Bush 08/02/2004 10:32 AM
After 35 years together, the Liberation Music Orchestra returns again to challenge another foe.

Sour Note for RIAA

Sour Note for RIAA 12/22/2003 02:57 PM
techtv Dec 22 2003 1:17PM ET

Mailing List Note

Mailing List Note 01/11/2004 02:40 AM
We're switching mailing list hosts: For those of you who receive Wi-Fi Networking News via subscription, we're changing our mailing list host from an outsourced provider to an in-house operation. This should be entirely transparent to you and should allow us more customization in what we deliver. For more details on our list and how to subscribe (and how to change your membership from digest to individual messages or vice versa), read our page about the mailing list....

DRF Online customers please note

DRF Online customers please note 09/18/2004 07:24 AM
Drf.com - Sat Sep 18, 10:32 am GMT

Note to Google Engineers

Note to Google Engineers 07/16/2004 09:55 AM
Search Engine Lowdown Jul 16 2004 2:12PM GMT

Love note to a cigar

Love note to a cigar 08/31/2004 10:09 AM
Cory Doctorow: Ben Hammersley -- gentleman adventurer, RSS hacker, dog-nut and committed smoker -- has taken on a cigar company as a sponsor on his blog, and is reviewing their wares, writing these over-the-top love-poems about cigars:

Lighting was smooth, though there was a little channelling (caused, I fear, by my own cackhandedness rather than any rolling fault, but easily rectified). Impressively firm ash, with the typical Nicaraguan whiteness to it, and solid to at least two inches. It’s a medium smoke, a good newspaper and coffee smoke, with non sense of bitterness at all. Indeed, once up to cruising speed, it’s rather blissful: it draws very well, doesn’t linger on the palate, but it calls to you from your hand. Fruity, perhaps, with a slight hint of spice, but nothing too post-prandial. The Sumatran wrapper gives some sweetness, and the ligero filler the complexity and the ummmph. In all, bloody nice.

Link

KM Note 0.53 Beta Released

KM Note 0.53 Beta Released 11/02/2003 05:25 PM

Personal note: not dead yet

Personal note: not dead yet 04/16/2004 12:51 PM
Despite Steve Jobs' statement, Mac OS 9 is NOT dead. The reason I haven't been posting too much lately is because I've been busy writing & debugging Mac OS 9 software. After my company released an OS X product, there were many requests for an OS 9 version, so that's what I'm now working on.

BBEdit users take note

BBEdit users take note 03/11/2003 10:46 AM
As a relatively new bbedit user, information like this is solid gold: Daring Fireball explains various options for text, html,...

Note to Bush and Cheney

Note to Bush and Cheney 06/16/2004 11:25 AM

Sound geeks take note

Sound geeks take note 12/02/2003 01:52 AM

I know Victor from fourstones.net from the remixes< /a> he's done of MetaFilter musicians and from all the great remixes he submitted to the Creative Commons CD.

He recently launched Virtual Turntable, a blog centered on what he does best: make music on a computer. It looks great and has a lot of technical news and reviews of music software and I can tell all my record-at-home geek friends are going to love it.

Note to geeks: look beyond the end of
your nose

Note to geeks: look beyond the end of
your nose 04/18/2005 02:51 PM

I know this has been going on for quite a while, but recently I've seen so many examples of it that I feel like stating the obvious that so many seem to be missing. Every time I see the new term ajax talked about online, there's a harsh knee-jerk programmer/geek reaction. "We don't need your stinking labels" and "XMLHttpRequest is a perfect fine name and has worked for years" are things you often read. On some level, these reactions are to be expected when you give a new label to an old technology, but lately, those reactions have been drowning out more substantive discussions.

But what baffles me most is that programmers are missing the big picture. Yes, XMLHttpRequest has been around for years, and ajax is just a pretty term for DHTML and javascript, but the beauty of the term ajax is that we now have an easy way to sell the technology. I know engineers have a natural fear of anything and anyone in the marketing world, but now that managers, VC, and funders all know what ajax is and that users want that kind of application interaction, they're much more likely to pay for it.

When a programmer drops the umpteenth comment on a weblog saying the term ajax sounds stupid and is unnecessary, they don't seem to realize how much more business they can pull in (if freelancing) or how they could score a raise (if salaried) if they would just add it to their next web application. Yes, the term is simply a marketing one and yes the technology has been around for a while, but it has been misunderstood and/or unknown until now. Ajax now means more money will funnel to your projects and users will prefer your products over the competition. In the end, the more people that use and understand what "ajax" means, the better off you'll be as a programmer.

Rockford Hits a Bad Note

Rockford Hits a Bad Note 05/17/2004 10:38 AM
The upscale audio equipment company's shares dropped nearly 25% on Friday.

A snarky note from the administrator

A snarky note from the administrator 08/23/2004 10:31 AM

No, you can't have a Gmail invite. No, I won't hack your email account for you. And if you can't find your hotmail inbox, you shouldn't be using a computer.

Semantic HTML is a two-edged sword.

Grok Description matches for More on Fair Use, with a Note on Patents
GrokA matches for More on Fair Use, with a Note on Patents

Microsoft Settles Antitrust Lawsuit

Microsoft Settles Antitrust Lawsuit 07/02/2004 06:45 AM
inSourced Jul 2 2004 10:44AM GMT

Microsoft faces new antitrust lawsuit

Microsoft faces new antitrust lawsuit 12/19/2003 06:19 PM
Straits Times Dec 19 2003 5:21PM ET

RealNetworks Files Antitrust Lawsuit
Against Microsoft

RealNetworks Files Antitrust Lawsuit
Against Microsoft 12/19/2003 02:25 PM
BizReport.com Dec 19 2003 12:50PM ET

Microsoft rival files antitrust lawsuit

Microsoft rival files antitrust lawsuit 12/19/2003 05:08 PM
SiliconValley.com Dec 19 2003 3:54PM ET

Microsoft settles Massachusetts
antitrust lawsuit

Microsoft settles Massachusetts
antitrust lawsuit 06/29/2004 05:05 PM
Boston Globe Jun 29 2004 9:34PM GMT

Microsoft settles Arizona antitrust
lawsuit

Microsoft settles Arizona antitrust
lawsuit 06/28/2004 09:20 PM
SiliconValley.com Jun 29 2004 1:17AM GMT

Microsoft seeks transfer of antitrust
lawsuit to state

Microsoft seeks transfer of antitrust
lawsuit to state 01/22/2004 05:09 AM
Microsoft asked a federal judge in California to transfer an antitrust lawsuit filed by RealNetworks against the company to Washington state. Seattle-based RealNetworks filed the $1 billion lawsuit last month in federal court in San Jose, Calif., claiming that Microsoft is abusing its monopoly on the personal computer to dominate the digital-media market.

Antitrust Ruling Near for Microsoft in
Europe

Antitrust Ruling Near for Microsoft in
Europe 01/26/2004 09:50 PM
New York Times Jan 27 2004 1:49AM GMT

Antitrust ruling near for Microsoft in
Europe

Antitrust ruling near for Microsoft in
Europe 01/27/2004 01:17 AM
CNET Jan 27 2004 5:53AM GMT

Microsoft settles Arizona lawsuit over
alleged breach of antitrust laws

Microsoft settles Arizona lawsuit over
alleged breach of antitrust laws 06/28/2004 08:08 PM
Canadian Press via Canada.com Jun 28 2004 11:47PM GMT

Microsoft wraps up antitrust defense in
Europe

Microsoft wraps up antitrust defense in
Europe 11/13/2003 02:55 PM
USA Today Nov 13 2003 2:07PM ET

FSF Europe Joins Microsoft Antitrust
Fray

FSF Europe Joins Microsoft Antitrust
Fray 03/23/2005 08:09 PM
eWeek Mar 24 2005 12:15AM GMT

Microsoft faces new antitrust troubles
in Europe

Microsoft faces new antitrust troubles
in Europe 11/13/2003 01:53 AM
USA Today Nov 13 2003 1:14AM ET

Europe drafts ruling in Microsoft
antitrust case

Europe drafts ruling in Microsoft
antitrust case 01/27/2004 07:24 AM
Computer Weekly Jan 27 2004 11:05AM GMT

2 Microsoft Competitors Address
Antitrust Hearing in Europe

2 Microsoft Competitors Address
Antitrust Hearing in Europe 11/15/2003 01:07 AM
New York Times Nov 15 2003 0:45AM ET

Europe finds Microsoft guilty in
antitrust case

Europe finds Microsoft guilty in
antitrust case 01/28/2004 07:18 AM
Computer Weekly Jan 28 2004 11:33AM GMT

Court demands antitrust compliance,
which Microsoft restricts to Europe

Court demands antitrust compliance,
which Microsoft restricts to Europe 12/24/2004 01:07 PM
National Post Dec 23 2004 2:51AM GMT

Free Software Foundation Europe wants
your money

Free Software Foundation Europe wants
your money 07/09/2004 11:39 AM
Putting the price tag on free software

Sparks expected as Microsoft faces off
with critics in Europe antitrust hearing

Sparks expected as Microsoft faces off
with critics in Europe antitrust hearing 11/11/2003 03:18 PM
AP via New Jersey Online Nov 11 2003 2:41PM ET

Disney to Use Microsoft Software for Web
Movies (Reuters)

Disney to Use Microsoft Software for Web
Movies (Reuters) 02/10/2004 02:52 AM
Reuters - Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N) has agreed to license copy-protection technology from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) for distributing movies over the Internet, the companies said on Sunday.

Microsoft Media Player-free Windows in
Europe from January

Microsoft Media Player-free Windows in
Europe from January 01/05/2005 02:03 PM
Digital Lifestyles Jan 5 2005 5:07PM GMT

Microsoft reaches $34 million settlement
of Massachusetts antitrust lawsuit; $9
million settlement in North Da

Microsoft reaches $34 million settlement
of Massachusetts antitrust lawsuit; $9
million settlement in North Da 06/30/2004 11:16 AM
CRM Assist Jun 30 2004 3:04PM GMT

Rambus files antitrust lawsuit

Rambus files antitrust lawsuit 05/05/2004 06:22 PM
Rambus Inc. continued its legal onslaught against computer memory vendors Wednesday by filing an antitrust lawsuit against four companies, accusing them of banding together to eliminate competition.

More States Dogpile on Oracle Antitrust
Lawsuit

More States Dogpile on Oracle Antitrust
Lawsuit 04/12/2004 03:27 PM
Ohio, Michigan and Connecticut want to join an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Oracle's $9.4 billion bid for business-software rival PeopleSoft, saying they're trying to protect taxpayers.

Micron Technology, Inc., Responds to
Antitrust Lawsuit

Micron Technology, Inc., Responds to
Antitrust Lawsuit 05/05/2004 09:17 PM
Linux Electrons May 6 2004 1:27AM GMT

Apple hit with antitrust lawsuit over
iTunes, iPod

Apple hit with antitrust lawsuit over
iTunes, iPod 01/06/2005 02:34 AM
iPodlounge Jan 6 2005 5:10AM GMT

Rambus names former ally Samsung in
antitrust lawsuit

Rambus names former ally Samsung in
antitrust lawsuit 06/17/2005 04:27 PM
Australian PC World Jun 16 2005 3:45PM GMT

There's Life after Microsoft, Say Free
Software Advocates

There's Life after Microsoft, Say Free
Software Advocates 01/24/2004 05:01 PM
Vicente Ruiz, a Spanish advocate of the use of free software, feigned displeasure as he sat down to help a journalist working at the World Social Forum (WSF) in January. ''Aghh, Windows!'' he quipped. ''Working with Windows is like being in prison,'' fellow technical expert and free software campaigner, Juan Carlos Gentile of the free software group Hipatia, told IPS.

MIT Backs Brazil's Free Software over
Microsoft

MIT Backs Brazil's Free Software over
Microsoft 03/22/2005 03:21 PM
MIT's Media Lab has recommended that Brazil install open-source software instead of proprietary software offered by Microsoft on thousands of computers that will be sold to the poor.

Austin considering shift from Microsoft
to free software

Austin considering shift from Microsoft
to free software 12/18/2003 02:12 AM
Miami Herald Dec 18 2003 1:47AM ET

More on Fair Use, with a Note on Patents

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: jason-schulz freedom microsoft software europe nap "non-assertion" speedus antitrust lawsuit "not dead enough" subtitles movies free