That's not what he is taking about. Have a look at this video of Steve Jobs is hacking together a database app by some drag&drop on a NeXTStep machine 20 years ago to get a sense of what he is getting at.

It's not like the computing world hasn't made any progress, as a lot of the stuff demoed back then is now more or less common place in every OS, which wasn't the case back then, but at least as far as desktops are concerned we haven't really made much progress beyond that. Human/computer interaction is still much the same as demoed back then.

we are corrupt moslem third world-ers, that might be better off to just die already or to pay you for everything for eternity forgetting we already past the colonialism and whatnot for decades already

You are misrepresenting my opinion and putting words into my mouth. If you're going to attribute such views to me when I'm attempting to discuss the issue in good faith from a disinterested perspective, why should I believe anything you say about the motivations of the Indonesian (or Saudi) government?

it's very clear that patents and IP rights generally are behind the whole problem

I wouldn't be so sure in this case. The Saudi official who has been complaining the loudest admitted (to a journalist who actually bothered to ask pointed questions) that the Dutch claim hasn't actually held up research in Saudi Arabia. He also admitted that the most bothersome aspect of this mess wasn't the lack of access, it was the fact that the Dutch were even claiming commercial rights that should have belonged exclusively to Saudi Arabia. (And I agree to the extent that the Dutch are behaving somewhat unethically here.)

As I've pointed out elsewhere in this thread, an MTA of some sort is standard practice, and in this case, where the material is a known human pathogen, some legal documentation and waiver of liability is absolutely essential. Even more so when the sample is being distributed internationally. Any researcher who would send a virus like this to a lab in another country without some kind of legally binding agreement should be fired for incompetence. Whether IP rights are involved or not does not affect this.

I think it's only a matter of time before biotech patents really do start to inhibit potentially life-saving research; I've seen it argued that personal genomics research is essentially violating gene patents in bulk, because that's the only way they can do any research at all! If our ability to get diagnostics from genome sequencing were held up by patents, or (more likely) if the $1000 genome became a $10,000 genome again because of all of the licensing fees, that would be genuinely tragic. But I think this case is simply a multi-national spat over IP rights; it has nothing to do with actually curing the disease.

So where is the problem?

The only problem is that if someone makes money off this, the House of Saud might not get a cut. No one is preventing their government (or anyone else) from researching a cure; it's simply another excuse to bash Western pharmaceutical companies, as if any more excuses were needed.

The Indonesians, and the Saudis, want to put the lives of their "throw-away" citizens (third-worlders, Muslims, riff-raff, you know) ahead of the profits curing only those who can afford the cure and sucking off funds of charities to pay the margins their patents etc. add on, may provide them.

I was going to respond to this, but another comment already made my point. The Indonesians and Saudis are grandstanding, because everyone hates Western pharmaceutical companies (I don't like them either) and they make easy targets. There is still nothing stopping them from making their own cures if they so desire. I think Erasmus University is being pretty stupid about this (and probably unethical as well), but most of the controversy is being manufactured by corrupt third-world governments. As usual.

You keep claiming this. Please provide a cite.

Actually, sorry, previous reply was incorrect - I did in fact have a citation:

Memish, in an interview with ScienceInsider yesterday, says that he had not seen the MTA himself. "I spoke to many scientists that said they were not willing to take the virus because the MTA was too restrictive," Memish says, but he did not give specific examples. "I made my comments on this assumption," he says. But Memish says that the issue has not impeded research in Saudi Arabia itself, where most cases of the virus have been found.

Memish says that his main gripe is with the fact that Zaki sent a virus sample taken from a patient in Saudi Arabia to Rotterdam in the first place and that Erasmus MC has been able to file for patents as a result. "Samples were shipped outside of the country without the knowledge or permission of the Ministry of Health and I cannot believe that any country on this planet would allow this to happen," Memish says. Zaki says that he gave a sample from the same patient to the Saudi Ministry of Health first. "They tested for swine flu and did not continue," he told ScienceInsider yesterday. Only then did he reach out to Fouchier.

all parties agree that the virus was originally isolated in Saudi Arabia. Thus, the real question behind the discussions is whether Saudi Arabia should benefit in some way from whatever comes out of research on the virus

It's refreshing to see that Science magazine actually did some genuine reporting.

On further reading, I retract this statement:

They're not claiming rights to the virus at all, only their own analysis.

However, this stands:

There is nothing preventing Saudi Arabia from performing their own analysis independently and completely ignoring the Dutch.

the Saudi Health Ministry said the patent was hindering the fight against the outbreak.

I repeat: they have not provided a shred of proof for this allegation. Based on everything else I've read, the Saudis probably have grounds to have the patent overturned on the basis that Erasmus obtained the material illegally, and as a national government, they can do pretty much anything they want if there is a genuine public health emergency. Everything points to the Saudis being unhappy that a) the research is now out of their control (and remember, this is a government that really, really likes to control everything that happens inside its borders, unusually so by modern standards), and b) someone else might make money off it. But complaining about this to the WHO probably wouldn't get as much sympathy as if they claim that the Dutch IP claim is preventing a cure.

After which I can't see how anyone can claim that this MTA doesn't slow down research.

But an MTA of some sort is totally standard practice - I know because I've worked in biomedical research labs - and absolutely essential when dealing with samples of a lethal virus. Even if the MTA did not specify any limitations on commercial use, it would still slow down the transfer of viral material. Any time there's an issue of legal liability the lawyers will get involved. It's not as simple as throwing a sample into a FedEx pouch and sending it off.

Think about the fact that producing and selling a vaccine is a "commercial purpose". Pharmaceutical companies do not operate as charities.

Okay, so hypothetically, if a pharma company wants to obtain the samples and intends to profit from them, why shouldn't they have to sign an agreement like this? If they're unhappy, they can always ask the Saudi government instead. No one is forcing them to go to Erasmus, except that the Saudis seem remarkably reluctant to cede any control.

You keep claiming this. Please provide a cite.

It's an assumption, but an entirely reasonable assumption under the circumstances. Conversely, the people complaining about this haven't pointed to a single instance where the Dutch university has actually held up research for a cure, which is what this article is claiming. MTAs are completely standard and it would be absolutely insane to instantly mail out samples of a lethal virus without some sort of legal agreement.

Here is a better source. Selected quotes:

Drosten, who has developed a diagnostic test using the virus from Erasmus MC, says that "anyone can use [the virus] for free." "What really shocks me is that the WHO seems to be buying into" the complaints, he says.

Memish says that the issue has not impeded research in Saudi Arabia itself, where most cases of the virus have been found.

Memish says that his main gripe is with the fact that Zaki sent a virus sample taken from a patient in Saudi Arabia to Rotterdam in the first place and that Erasmus MC has been able to file for patents as a result. "Samples were shipped outside of the country without the knowledge or permission of the Ministry of Health and I cannot believe that any country on this planet would allow this to happen," Memish says. Zaki says that he gave a sample from the same patient to the Saudi Ministry of Health first. "They tested for swine flu and did not continue," he told ScienceInsider yesterday. Only then did he reach out to Fouchier.

This lab is deciding who can develop a treatment, and what cut of it the Dutch lab will get. Is that your idea of a free market? They're controlling access to a virus

No, they're not. For fuck's sake, can't any of you read the goddamn article? (Slashdot editors included.)

They are not looking to be paid for their work in sequencing the virus, but to get a cut of any treatment that may be developed by controlling who is allowed to develop a treatment.

But because there isn't actually a patent on any of this, there is nothing that prevents anyone else from doing the sequencing themselves. This isn't rocket science - in fact it is trivial for any reasonably well-equipped biomedical research institution. Saudi Arabia is only unhappy because they want to retain exclusive rights, which of course is quite legal under international law, but if they actually cared about developing a cure, they'd already have their own sequence.

If they're claiming the rights to the virus

They (Erasmus University) aren't - read the article. All they're saying is, "if you want us to send you our data, you need to agree not to commercialize it without us, and you need to release us from legal liability." They're not claiming rights to the virus at all, only their own analysis. There is nothing preventing Saudi Arabia from performing their own analysis independently and completely ignoring the Dutch. In fact, what's really going on here is that Saudi Arabia wants to hold on to any intellectual property rights deriving from the virus, and they're concerned that the Dutch may fuck that up. If people die as a result, the fault lies entirely with the Saudi government for dropping the ball.

The article is completely and wildly off the mark, and the summary is confusing the issue even more, if that's even possible.

This is at least an improvement over the previous article on the same subject, which didn't even identify which IP claims were causing problems. But I agree, there is some incredibly sloppy reporting going on here. I realize that the storyline of "evil Western profiteers kill people with patents" is very tempting for lazy journalists and activists, and there are genuine problems with the patenting of gene sequences, but that's not even what's going on here. This is purely a case of bureaucratic infighting and ass-covering, and the article couldn't point to a single instance where Erasmus University actually prevented anyone from researching towards a cure.