[Asterisk-Users] g.729 - licenses and opinions

[Steven Critchfield]

On Thu, 2004-05-13 at 14:45, Kevin Walsh wrote:
> Steven Critchfield [critch at basesys.com] wrote:
> > So while I think it is important, I
> > also can't seem to draw a reasonable line. 24 months in most software
> > isn't enough time from day 0 to make any reward for the work, at least
> > not monetarily. What software project out there do you know had a major
> > roll out sufficiently under 24 months from beginning of programming to
> > have paid the programming staff off after say 1 year past the initial 24
> > months?
> >
> Software patents encourage monopoly rather than freedom.  Idiots write
> a line of code and then feel that they've "invented" something.

Temporary monopoly. Of course with the current time limits, it might as
well be permanent since the techniques will be mostly useless by the
time they are free.

> Luckily, people who live in free countries, such as England, are not
> subject to such stupidity.  We are free to write anything we like
> without having to hire a lawyer to check and double-check every line
> of code for patent infringements.
> 
> If you're not careful, software development will turn into a legal
> minefield over there;  Nobody will feel safe creating code in the USA
> and will have to turn to free countries, where software patents don't
> apply, to fill the demand for new software.

Actually I think it is going to be even worse than you stated. Having
software developed in foreign countries will not make it any safer for
us in the US to use the software. We will still be treading through that
legal mine field.

Of course, I think the problem here is that even if you roll back
"software patents" we will have methodologies that can be implemented in
software that are still patentable.

Ohh well. Thanks for the depressing thread. On to threads that are
on-topic for this list.
-- 
Steven Critchfield  <critch at basesys.com>