For me, everything is running fine, and the upgrade went almost without a hitch, except: In my guest XP system under Sun Virtual Box I no longer can use any of the USB devices. The Ubuntu host seems to have grabbed them and won't share with VB-XP anymore. Setting up USB filters hasn't helped either. Especially sucky since I need a USB label printer using windows-only software to work for my business. I also don't seem to have full compatibility with Flash on some websites through Firefox anymore. The first one is the kicker though. That is enough of an issue to just drive me on over to a Psystar Mac...

From an examiner: no matter what people may have said before me, or the differing philosophical ideas out there on the subject... if you publish your idea, its gone. Everyone then essentially owns it. That is the key thing to remember. If you go down the road and later think you want a patent after all (over a year), your own publishing of your idea will be used as prior art against you and you are done. If you don't care about ever receiving any financial benefit from your idea, then by all means publish it. Otherwise, save your money, do your research, and apply as soon as you are able. Do the application well the first time, use an attorney who follows your directions but who knows the process, and go from there. Good luck.

I would agree 100%. As a patent examiner my advice is get an application in, and an application done well the first time through. Once you file, you have a date on record, and that can be a valuable thing. That, and beware who you share your idea with before you get that date. The USPTO has plenty of resources for inventors. Google the web page and read it thoroughly... and hire a reputable IP attorney from an IP focused firm when you are ready... going the pro se route is a recipe for a mess if you've never been through this process before. My disclaimer: DO NOT contact me for patent advice of any kind other than what is presented here in this response. I can not comment further. I will ignore all comments and requests.

As soon as someone thinks that can control or SHOULD control the weather we are doomed. Despite the losses seen in violent storms and other weather events, those events keep our world in balance and in check. There are more factors involved than we can comprehend or yet understand. Changes in humidity, movement of seeds/soils... so many things. The problem is, not to sound too greenie, is that we treat the earth like we own it, not like we are part of it. The more we influence it (actively or passively) the more likely it is to get messed up and for things to get worse for us. We need the Earth... it doesn't need us. I think Gates, the meglomaniac/idiot savant, should stick to giving his billions to those less fortunate and leave mother nature alone.

From someone on the inside I can tell you that this is not a simple issue. As noted, applications and inventions get more complicated, the search for pertinent prior art gets wider and the amount of time we have to do the work gets shorter. In theory they can hire many new examiners... but we are faced with a huge space crunch here as well. Brand new campus and there is limited room/offices for all these new examiners to work. They would like everyone to hotel... which means work from home. But the problem is you have to be a certain grade and have a certain amount of experience before you can do so. A good thing because this is not a job you learn in weeks or months... its one that takes years to learn to do well. Heck, some of us enjoy having our office and prefer this office environment. But the management side of the office is just worried about production... get cases out. The examiners can do more more more... that is until the stress of meeting our unrealistic production quotas burns us out and we quit. That is if you make it that far. I know brand new examiners, less than a year in, that have already looked elsewhere. And these are bright, hardworking people...

Add in the fact that the software we use is a Frankenstein mess of stuff cobbled together from other places and squeezed to work the way we need. We kill more time waiting for and trying to get our tools to work than we often do examining. So what are they doing about it? Hiring top programmers, even pulling examiners who know our system and are great software developers as well to do the work? Maybe hiring a top company who already has their know how in it like Google? No, they keep using the same block headed people as always to produce half baked software that is beta tested live on us trying to do our job. Oops, software doesn't work? Can't produce? Well, you better figure out how to make production. Mind you if the managers don't do their job they don't get reprimanded and often get a bonus on top of things at the end of the year anyway. Examiner who can't keep up get reprimanded and fired.

So the reality is that there is a lot of lip service by the top administrators here about doing the best job, being the best IP org in the world, etc... but the bottom line is that examiners are pushed to their limits trying to do a good job but see little reward or true respect for it in house. Quality of examination goes out the window over production, and at a certain level that is what starts to happen the higher the grade you are since your production ramps up as well.

If you don't believe me... go ask an examiner at the PTO. Ask several and see how far their answers differ. Not much I feel.