This is the part I really don't understand. My understanding, and I could be wrong, is that Oracle is going after Google for patent, not trademark violations. From what I can see, this has nothing to do with any trademarks being used inappropriately. Rather, it has to do with Google implementing a solution based on the published Java specifications. I haven't read the license that those specifications are published under. However, I'd guess that they do not grant license to freely use the specifications to generate code that could compete with Java.

So I'm not sure where all the discussion about trademark violation is coming from. Did Oracle claim trademark, as well as patent, violations? As to the future viability of Java, I'm not sure that any of this will really have an impact. So far, it only seems to matter if you want to reimplement Java. You can make the case that several embedded device manufactures do want to reimpliment Java, because of hardware limitations. It will certainly impact those interests. It may come about that those interests will create the next popular language that meets their needs, rather than use Java. However, I do not see it having an impact on Java, where it is commonly used today.

A little off topic, but I do find the cell-phone environment interesting. Everybody seems to want to exclude cell-phones from general computing. It is fascinating to watch all of these big companies fighting over who can do what on these little devices. It is very similar to the way modern warfare works. Everybody is afraid of the big patent war, much like the cold war's nukes. However, the players still want to test out their war-craft. So they pick small targets (cell phones or 3rd world countries) to do their battle.

Yes, but how many are male?

I wonder how many even know the rules of the road. With a car, you need to take tests to prove you have the knowledge and be of a certain age to show you have the maturity. Anyone that can balance between two wheels and operate a peddle is allowed to dart into traffic and slow it down to 5MPH.

If bicyclists want the same rights as cars on the road, they should be required to obtain a drivers license with a specific endorsement for bicycles. The same is required for motorcycles. Why not bicycles?

That law makes sense. Wish we had it here. Most of the roads here are 45MPH. Bikes are only excluded from roads set at 65MPH.

Yes, because the only use for firearms is murder, much like the only use for model rockets is blowing up buildings.

While I do recall the bit about turning the other cheek, I don't recall defense, hunting, mechanical curiosity, or the desire to cause bottles to explode from a distance to be against Christianity.

Somehow your analogies don't scale.

Here is a better one. Let's say you take a basic flu strain and modify it to produce purple splotches. That flu strain now belongs to you. You are free to infect yourself with said flu strain. Now, if you do so, you are also free to wander around coughing on people. However, if anyone catches said flu, they are thieves. Anyone developing purple splotches is a thief, pure and simple.

Sounds similar to TeaLeaf. We recently had a demo of Tealeaf to show how the web interface could be evaluated and improved. Tealeaf tracks all of the generated html a customer views. It can replay the exact experience from the customer's view point. Interesting stuff... I've also seen some of Omniture's software. It was able to show what a customer clicked on to navigate to a certain spot in the site.It also showed how often different parts were clicked on.

This type of software is good to determine what is being used, and what is waste, on a site.

I still have family that lives in a small rural town. Population of about 4000, and the next town over (about 30,000 population) is a 2 hour drive. They installed fiber about 5 years ago. My grandmother has faster Internet than I can get in the city. UPS also has little problem delivering. Granted, 2-day delivery is more like 7-day. However, they do deliver. I have to wonder how many small towns still fit your description.

That all depends on whether you consider mail to be critical infrastructure or not. Twenty years ago, mail was the primary means of communication. It is not so much now. I haven't mailed anything (other than census info) in 15 years. As soon as the US Government learns about e-mail and digital signatures, I shouldn't even need mail delivery. Cell phones, Internet, and package carriers have largely replaced the post office.

Pizza delivery, on the other hand, has never been considered critical infrastructure. Unless you are a college student.

Used to live within a mile of a slaughterhouse. I really miss the fresh jerky and sausage... Commercial pig farms on the other hand do stink. Shame that small pig farms can't meet demand.

Of course, charging higher prices for rural wouldn't have an effect on any large commercial operation. Their mail comes from the corporate offices.

It might be an interesting case to hear, when it is disclosed that the owner broadcast detailed instructions to press the button on the glove box to access the contents.

We do? I figured it had more to do with worms, fleas, ticks, salmonella, campylobacteriosis, scabies, and possibly viruses. Not to mention, any sexual act not condoned by some moral authority tends to become illegal. Of course, illegal sex only comes into play when someone complains.

I'd have to find my manual again, but I'm fairly certain that there is a paragraph in there somewhere that says that using the device to produce a copy of the movie violates your license to use the device. Come to think of it, I believe it also said something about professional movies being violation the license, So no, the camera company won't be sued, you will.

Chromium has limited support for addons. I installed Chromium, and went to look for my favorite addons. It was easy to find imitations, addons that borrowed the name of popular Firefox addons. However, going to DownloadThemAll's site brought me to: No Google Chrome support. The short article talks about Chrome's limitations. The gist of it can be shown in this quote: "While support for some types of extensions was added to Chrome just recently, the extension system in Chrome simply doesn’t cut it. It is only very limited in what you can do."

The end of the article links to Why Chrome has No NoScript. That short post goes on to link to forum posts and bug reports showing why basic addons can't work with Chrome.

Not surprising. I've heard that a butterfly, flapping its wings on the other side of the planet, can adversely affect the stock market.