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Comment Re:And no patents (Score 1) 725

I don't think so. Ritchie brought the world C and Unix. Then what did he do for the rest of his life?

Steve Jobs brought the world a computer you could just plug into the wall and TV and use without owning a soldering iron, even school kids could use it. Then he made available a totally integrated computer with a GUI. Along with that he brought regular people the capability to create beautiful printed documents on their own. (I think the Mac+LaserWriter alone had a greater impact on the world than Dennis Ritchie.) Then he created an operating system / application development environment based on OOP, which after 25 years is now one of the most widely used (built on the back of C/Unix too!) Then, in the face of huge resistance, he killed the floppy drive, serial ports, and parallel ports which would probably still be shipping on most computers today. He showed people that computers could be pretty and stylish objects that people would be proud to display instead of depressingly shaped and shaded "office equipment." Then he created a music player with integrated library management software at a time when all players came with horrible software that made regular people scream in frustration. Then he used that to radically transform the music industry, which everyone thought was on its last legs. Then he took everything he had spent the last 20 years working on, along with some tech he got from people who made keyboards that normal people couldn't use, and used it to totally reshape the cell phone (and eventually all computers.) Four years on and the competition is still reeling from that one. Then he took that and created a truly intuitive computer, the first tablet computer that people actually wanted to buy.

I'm probably leaving things out.

Comment Re:And no patents (Score 1) 725

Whatever, the main userland stuff on OSX/iOS is not BSD. You could get rid of all of the BSD stuff and users wouldn't even know. It used to be an optional install! All of the important userland stuff is descended from NeXTSTEP and that was started with Steve Jobs vision in 1985, which was to do for software developers what Mac did for users.

Comment Re:Is drawing also illegal? (Score 1) 544

Thats why in California, for instance, the trespassing law doesn't allow the operators of businesses open to the public to kick people out for taking a photograph, making a phone call, writing down prices, etc...

(a) Any person who intentionally interferes with any lawful business or occupation carried on by the owner or agent of a business establishment open to the public, by obstructing or intimidating those attempting to carry on business, or their customers, and who refuses to leave the premises of the business establishment after being requested to leave by the owner or the owner's agent, or by a peace officer acting at the request of the owner or owner's agent, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 90 days, or by a fine of up to four hundred dollars ($400), or by both that imprisonment and fine.
[...]
      (c) This section shall not apply to any of the following persons:
      (1) Any person engaged in lawful labor union activities that are permitted to be carried out on the property by state or federal law.
      (2) Any person on the premises who is engaging in activities protected by the California Constitution or the United States Constitution.
      (d) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to supersede the
application of any other law.

California's constitution provides affirmative protection of people's right to free speech, unlike the US constitution which simply prohibits congress (and the states) from passing laws infringing upon it.

Comment Re:It will be interesting to see where this goes (Score 1) 462

It's established that the police can search containers nearby someone being arrested if they reasonably could hold evidence of the crime for which the arrest is made. In the opinion handed down by the State appeals court that was discussed recently here, the guy had physical evidence of drug use in his car. The police reasoning went along the lines of "drug users and dealers use cell phones to setup deals" so that opened the door for the police to search his phone. The court agreed...

Comment Re:9th Circuit is all screwed up (Score 2) 258

On the one hand the 9th Circuit that just mailing a disc to a DJ counts as a sale because it has been "placed into the stream of commerce" even though the publisher of the says it isn't. On the other hand they say a disc that's sold in a store in a box like anything else that is sold in stores doesn't count as a sale because the publisher says it isn't. What is the difference?

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