So it’s been a while in coming, but Apple is no longer a company for me. This crazy patent they took out is just another example of why.
bdd
capistrano
capital
capitalism
caterpillar
collapse
collective intelligence
commands
commonism
commons
communism
community currency
currency & DNA for social organisms
deploy
devalot
economcis
econophysics
episteme
executable
Galbraith
installation
Internet
knowledge
kudos
money
open money
open source
os-earth
OS X
phronesis
physics
rails
reality
rspec
ruby
stability
syntax coloring
tcsh
trac
trust
truth
ubuntu
wagn
wiki
wordpress books (7)
clojure (2)
coding/software (15)
collective intelligence (9)
currency & DNA for social organisms (28)
funny (3)
geeky (11)
non-geeky (41)
open source (10)
random (15)
solutions (14)
spirituality (6)
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Links
Recent Posts
Categories
- books (7)
- clojure (2)
- coding/software (15)
- collective intelligence (9)
- currency & DNA for social organisms (28)
- funny (3)
- geeky (11)
- non-geeky (41)
- open source (10)
- random (15)
- solutions (14)
- spirituality (6)
Archives
- January 2012
- December 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- April 2011
- February 2011
- September 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- May 2009
- March 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- July 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- January 2006
- November 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
Hey Eric -
Remember that the world of patent warfare is much bigger and more complex than seems right. What I really hate are the wasted resources and assaults on what would be commons property that go to ridiculous extremes. It is clear that our patent and copyright system is quite broken.
However, don’t jump down Apple’s throat until you see the offense in an Apple product… they well could have patented that in order to gain footholds and assets in all the patent wars in which they are constantly embroiled. It is a common tactic to deny others use (and revenue) of a feature by patenting it.
It might also serve as a pawn in the game of pleasing partnership companies – perhaps a cell carrier is requiring an Apple device to support this feature, and Apple decided to level the playing field by taking the feature out of the competitor’s reach. A ways down the road with partners look different, and it may turn out the partner realizes it wasn’t such a great idea after all, etc.