On 8/12/2010 2:33 PM, K1TTT wrote:

First, I would like to point out and "slap right on the table",
obfuscation, diversion, slight-of-hand and wordiness look lame to me ...
for whatever reason, they strike me as tools of the "uneducated con
man." That out of the way ...

...
don't bet on it. microsoft just had to remove a major feature from
word because of patent infringement. and there are lots of cases
where companies have to buy rights to use patented features before
they can release their products, compression algorithms are just one
of many things that have been patented.

Microsoft stole Java from Sun and attempted to make it, its' own.
Microsoft has a long history of this. The type(s) of individual(s) who
do such seem to infiltrate large corporations in large numbers.
However, really a moot point to the direction in which this conversation
first started ...

even the cursor and the mouse have patents.

Yeah, as if someone grasping at straws and thinking that "just owning a
patent", in someway, is some kind of status symbol ... something which
fails to impress anyone worth impressing.

fortunately most of my work is using standard tools
that come with distribution licenses, and the stuff i develop that is
unique is from our own research programs so we obviously own the
rights. but if i find a free tool that has something that will make my
job much easier i have to submit the license to our software quality
and then maybe legal offices to be sure we can use it without
infringing. you know those long license statements that no one ever
reads before installing something?? most of them unfortunately make
sense to me now.

Yeah, most people double check their work(s) and have others do so, if
available ...

Regards,
JS