Re: Strawmen and Urban Legends

[dt]

Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:
> Of course, a device that peforms a particular function, like a
> vocorder, can be patented even if it uses a DSP chip and software. You
> patent the complete device, not its components.

That's a clever suggestion :) Patent a complete device e.g. cell phone,
HDTV...Boeing 747...
No matter that those "devices" are combinations of hundreds, if not
thousands, of patented technologies developed over decades...

> Unless the patent offices manage to understand how writing software
> works, we're better off with copyright protection.
>
My dear little friend... I can assure you that the USPTO has enough
people who understand software, they just need to spend more time on
each application.
The EPO is already doing a great job as far as "software patents" are
concerned.

> Most programmers don't write software like poems. It's written much
> like one would "write" mathematical formulae.

Oh yeah, just like mathematical formulas... When was the last time that
you wrote a "mathematical formula" ? High school calculus ?

> And quite clearly, we
> would not have seen much progress in mathematics if patents would have
> been granted on Newton-Raphson or FFTs.
>

Oh yeah, a patent on a fast practical method of computing well-known
Fourier transform would have a catastrophic impact on the progress of
the entire field of mathematics.
Your logic is flawless...

> One of the problems is that a lot of people discoursing on software
> patents don't know what software is.
>
This is so evident from your comments.  Why don't you go and take some
elementary CS and EE classes ?

> --
> Stefaan A Eeckels
> --
> Ninety-Ninety Rule of Project Schedules:
>         The first ninety percent of the task takes ninety percent of
> the time, and the last ten percent takes the other ninety percent.