The fees and complexities to file a patent are beyond reach for nearly all of society, except the businesses and people who can afford the cost. Access to the patent system should be free. After all, patents are supposed to benefit society--so why should patents have any fee at all to obtain. The entire patent system would obviously fold if this were the case. So tell me how government sponsored monopolies granted to patent trolls and monopoly organizations somehow advances society and the arts? The patent system is totally abused and convoluted and should be eliminated completely.

The whole patent system, as it is currently, looks like a government propped racketeering system designed to enrich the wealthy at cost to the common folk. The costs in dealing with it bring us down as a society. It does nothing more than stifle competition, breed corruption, and higher prices of goods and services. It is a game of the wealthy, waged with great success, against the common man. Monopolization of ideas--pathetic and sad. Why should anyone be the servant to another's idea?

"Personally, I wouldn't want to fly in a plane that hadn't been certified by the FAA."
How about flying in a plane that has been certified by an private organization that can provide proof that their certification program is at least an order of magnitude better than the FAA certification--but they don't bother with the FAA certification? Would you fly in the aircraft then?

There ARE bazillions of good ideas out there now that may never be patented because the folks can't afford to proceed with the current system. I personally have many very good ideas that I choose not to patent because of the high cost of entry. That does not make my ideas any less worthy of patent protection. Worse yet, some of those can be found, stolen, or rediscovered by others or businesses, with the money to patent them and they do.

So then why should only the few who can afford the big money risk it takes to get one be afforded the monopoly on their idea. It should be accessible to all on an even basis--it is not currently fair in this regard because of the cost of entry. If in the end, the result after making it available to all at no cost, is that it is deemed worthless or not worth the cost to maintain, then so be it--all for the better. We do not need patents at all, they serve to artificially inflate the costs of goods and services through government condoned and enforced monopolies. U.S. Government is supposed to be "For the people, by the people", not "For the business, by the business".

The current system is rigged to benefit the wealthy. The answer for how to fix the system is very simple. Make the patent system truly accessible to all. Force the patent office to reduce the charges of filing and obtaining a patent to $0. Then anyone could write and submit a patent, even a person of little means. By allowing anyone, on an even scale of zero cost to submit a patent, we would then see how fast the system got fixed, streamlined, and simplified. Why should a system that is supposed to be "beneficial to society" be accessible only to the people and businesses who have the money to buy into it? Why not let anyone with a decent idea be permitted to submit, at *zero* cost?

If we were to do this, the patent absurdity would be magnified to the point that we would all agree that patents are silly, unfair, and should be abolished. Patents are nothing but a detriment to society. Patents need to be abolished in the better interest of promoting innovation, competition, and the advancement of society and the arts. Stick a fork in them all!

If my memory serves me, the government can be considered "exempt" in any case of of patent infringement. Go figure.

Oh yea. I did just sign that petition. Spitting into the wind... Thanks.

To the proprietary game vendors you ARE a magpie with a wallet, but that is your choice. They aim their powerful marketing cannons and blast away. Consumers just eat it up and pay pay pay only to find that whatever they buy becomes obsolete in fairly short order. Repeat cycle over and over again. You play "their game".
Well perhaps you should just stop playing "their game". If you have a decent computer, then download/get a copy of BZFlag and go with that. It is a great game and is totally free to install and use. You can even design your own boards for it if you want to. BZFlag is free as in GPL and costs nothing to obtain and use and it is loads of fun. It beats any proprietary game out there.

You typically do not know how long the systems will be used. In many cases they are used to the point that they no longer work. When you are dealing with Windows, that does not take very long. Many windows users actually replace their systems when the software fails--they think they need a new PC. If the systems are older you won't even get latest Windows to run on them--and if it does somewhat run it will be a wast of time for them because the systems will be slow and problematic.
Then there is the licensing issue. Can you distribute Windows to them? Do you have a license to distribute Windows? Are you breaking the license agreement that you agreed to when you originally installed Windows on those systems. IANAL, but you may be setting yourself up for a legal mess with Windows. Read the EULA for details--get good legal advise to be sure. ..Then also how long will Windows run effectively before it gets roached and what about anti-virus software costs, and added costs of applications. When you give them Windows you give them a headache and expenses they do not need--like giving them a free Great Dane puppy from the pound but not as lovable.
So after the 2.5 years of XP support, then what do you do? Endgame in action, more costs.
Now consider the solution using Linunx Mint, or Ubuntu long term support (LTS). When the current LTS support expires the next LTS version will already be available at no charge and supported for another two years. Then on top of that you get the freedom of the GPL, so you can set up a system as a server without the restrictions and costs that occur with Windows. Hell, you can not even set Windows desktop up as a server--it is against the license. But you can use a NIX system any way you want, server, desktop, storage appliance, or whatever is needed. Windows desktop is heavily restricted in what you can use it for--single purpose desktop single user, that is it.

With Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, or others) you can duplicate, replicate, install, move hard drive images around, all you want without having to go through the reactivation mess of Windows. With Ubuntu or Mint, updates take seconds and most times do not even need a reboot. Windows updates take hours, days, and can result in totally screwed up systems--been there many times.

If you want the typical bloated, slow, resource sucking, application with all the bells and whistles that runs only on Windows platform, then go for it. Pony up the cash, saddle up and ride away. If you can convince customers to pay good money for the ride, then more power to you.
On the other hand, if you want to be able to leverage code artifacts to the fullest and reuse solutions for other, more cost efficient platforms, say Linux, then your .NET application is totally stuck in the muck. Don't even think about moving it, you will have all kinds of IP problems, and will be unable to make any kind of efficient move to another platform anyway. Was .NET more about locking business into the myopic servitude of a Windows-only world? It succeeded at that. ...but egads! its no longer a Windows-only world.

One time leasing fee?? Just goes to show you that you need to read the fine print. If you don't agree with it, then don't buy/lease the unit. Most manufactures don't want you to read the fine print; this is the reason that it is tiny and difficult to read (legalese).
What if you were to come across a unit some other way, such as a garage sale giveaway? In this case you have agreed to nothing. Does the unit say "Not for resale. Property of Sony Corp." on it??

The one-time leasing fee is just a ploy to prevent you from marginalizing or re-purposing the hardware. Why should I not be able to build software for that platform and sell it or give it away allowing others to run it--such as a Linux distribution? For that matter, why not purchase from Sony, hack for other purpose--such as a node for parallel processing super computer, and then re-sell the units for that purpose with software included? You could make some serious money using their console. How can that be wrong or illegal?

It is not my fault that Sony chose a marketing tactic of giving the razor away to sell the blades. That is their risk and trying to get the law on their side in this matter is just plain wrong. ...I have some pretty decent blades that just happen to fit in that razor and when combined can do some very useful and valuable things.

I do not plan on buying anything from Sony again. Hopefully others will do the same. They can keep their products and services. What they are doing is just plain wrong--typical of an aging entertainment business with lobbying ties to Washington.

Why do people keep sending these greedy corporations money for products and services when they carry on like this (with the draconian fine print)??

It is just amazing what these aging businesses will do to try to prop up a product and business model that has less and less value as time goes forward--a copy. The ability to create great quality copies and distribute them to others has never been easier. They are just going to have to transform their business model. Copies are copies are copies--everyone can do it---no big deal.

They pass new laws, re-coin old terms such as "piracy" and try to convince the dwindling masses that it is good to pay their fees to listen to music. If they had their way you would pass them some revenue each and every time you listened to something they deemed "their property". Bottom line is, if someone can hear it, then it can easily be recorded. Copes can easily be stamped in seconds. These are now a facts of life and of todays powerful technologies and there is no getting around that.

This is not piracy. Their revelations are not revelations at all--just marketing and babble. It isn't instant gratification that causes copying, it is just the simple fact that it is easy and convenient to do so. Stop screwing with our court systems, laws, and language big media! Get over it and move on... Find another way--innovate!

Sheesh, what will it take for enough smart people to collectively stop sending these greedy corporations money for their hyped and worthless products?