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SPRING IS SAFE
Posted: 06 Jul 2005, 18:02
by BlackLiger
The EU parliement voted decisively against allowing softwear to be patented. So Softwear is safe, and more paticuarly, open source like spring is safe :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4274811.stm
Whhhops. Old link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4655955.stm <- correct link
Posted: 06 Jul 2005, 18:12
by AF
It's not software that threatens us, it's artwork, even if it is software, models and textures count as artwork, even though in an electronic form, and thus are subject to copyright laws.
Posted: 06 Jul 2005, 18:30
by jcnossen
it's a good thing nonetheless, extending software patents can only mean trouble like it is in the US. There microsoft actually has patents on things such as double-clicking or the "Is" operator.
Posted: 07 Jul 2005, 00:00
by PauloMorfeo
Zaphod wrote:... or the "Is" operator.
You mean the ls command used in Linux/Unix to list directories?
If so, what a joke...
Posted: 07 Jul 2005, 00:52
by [K.B.] Napalm Cobra
Europe>America
Ls is the linux directory listing thing
Posted: 07 Jul 2005, 01:54
by jcnossen
no the "Is" operator of visual basic, it checks whether two pointers (or objects in vb) are equal.
actually I could only find the IsNot operator patent, maybe I was wrong about Is. Though IsNot is still a lame patent IMO.
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Par ... 0040230959
Posted: 08 Jul 2005, 23:41
by PauloMorfeo
Zaphod wrote:no the "Is" operator of visual basic, ...
I wonder how stupid crappy fonts that have I (i) and l (L) look the same (as well as O and zero), ever got to become standards...
Posted: 09 Jul 2005, 16:03
by el_muchacho
Yes, this vote of the EU Parliament is a victory of software developers over the greed of some minorities.