No it isn't.

Assuming Linux provided those things at least as well as Windows, of course.

So you want patents to become increasingly the preserve of large companies who have the money to invest in the legal processes required to get a patent, and to discriminate against small businesses and individuals who want to protect their inventions? Because it's bad enough as it is - raising the bar for entry still further and worse, providing punishment for missing something would absolutely cut the process off for those without the resources to do the work upfront and weather the hit of potentially still being wrong.

...can I be the only one who immediately thought of this and got very confused?

The thing about phone records is that they distinguish between calls to 911 and calls to Susan.

Interesting map, which raises a question; are you being willfully ignorant or just intellectually dishonest?

That choice of colouring ranges lumps the US (3.6 deaths per 100k) in with Italy (0.36 deaths per 100k) - that's an order of magnitude difference. And with the UK (0.04 deaths per 100k) - that's two orders of magnitude difference.

Do the same the other way, and you'd be lumping the US in with the likes of Swaziland and Guatemala.

Look at this list, for example. Count the first world countries on that list with worse gun homicide rates than the US. Look at how strictly controlled guns tend to leave countries towards the low end of the list, and lax or no controls tend to put them higher up the list.

Switzerland has some of the tightest controls on guns out there, of course. And I think we can all recognise how laughable it is to claim Mexico is a fine example of firmly applied gun control laws.

Look, give it up. He has statistics to prove you wrong. This is why all countries with strong gun-control laws are seething masses of crime and murder.

No, wait...

I'm saying that punching people in the street, whatever the reason, is a bad thing that we should want not to happen, if that's what you're asking, yes.

You, on the other hand, appear to be taking the kindergarten line of argument. "But... but... but he did it first!" Doesn't make it any better, I'm afraid.

The reality is that your analogy is bad. In the real world we can't make it impossible for anyone to punch someone else in the face. In terms of abuse of patents, we can do that - or at least make the penalty for doing so high enough to make it undesirable.

No need for a scorecard. As always, the patent lawyers are winning, and the consumers are losing.

This sort of shitty competition through litigation was vile when Apple did it to Samsung, and it's equally vile when Samsung do it to Apple. Showing more and more why we desperately need patent reform. I'm not even that concerned about the impact on Apple and Samsung - it's the smaller players who can be crushed by litigation like this that I've got more sympathy for.

Measure with a micrometer. Mark with chalk. Cut with an axe.

Can't encourage that sort of thing, though - it would be security awareness training. And we know *that's* a waste of time.

That would be the 99.99% of us whose offices are never cleaned, have no windows, and have rigorous security preventing anyone who isn't cleared from entering the building?

Sorry, but your approach is inefficient. Since the system now requires users to choose passwords that aren't memorable (and probably to change them regularly as well) a large number of them will have them written down on post-it notes stuck to their monitors. That reduces the search space even more. :D

I recall the time they found those fossilized mosquitoes
And before long, they were cloning DNA
Now I'm being chased by some irate veloceraptors
Well, believe me... this has been one lousy day

Jurassic Park is frightning in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone shut the fence off in the rain
I admit it's kinda eerie
But this proves my chaos theory
And I don't think I'll be coming back again
Oh no

I cannot approve of this attraction
'Cause getting disemboweled always makes me kinda mad
A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawer
Well, I suppose that proves... they're really not all bad

Jurassic Park is frightning in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone let T. Rex out of his pen
I'm afraid those things'll harm me
'Cause they sure don't act like Barney
And they think that I'm their dinner, not their friend
Oh no

Jurassic Park is frightning in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
What a crummy weekend this has been
Well, this sure ain't no E-ticket
Think I'll tell them where to stick it
'Cause I'm never coming back this way again
Oh no... oh no