I contribute to several open source projects, and I'm the maintainer for some. So I "get" open source. Your idea of "requires no effort" irks me, though, because it leads to very incorrect conclusions.

FOSS works well when many people want the same software. Apache and Linux are examples - everyone needs an operating system and there are millions of web servers. If 0.1% of users contribute,
they can build and maintain good software together.

Where proprietary software works well is when there are a limited number of users. If 1,000 people need a particular type of software, 0.1% participation in development is ONE GUY doing all the work. I've been that one guy, spending thousands of hours developing an application that saves people a ton of money. I do need the other 999 users to finance the cost, or the software wouldn't get written. Making 1,000 copies costs over $100,000. Adding one more doesn't cost that much MORE, but the effort and the cost is very real.

I mentioned that if the other 999 users don't do their part and pay for the software, the software won't be developed. That's exactly what has happened with the software I spent over a decade on. An entire industry will no longer have a working version of the software they rely on because some of them thought it would be okay for them to steal it, leaving others to pay the costs . They won't get an IPv6 version and everybody loses, because I can't spend a few weeks working on something that will just be stolen. There are real costs, and if you take the product without paying your share of the cost, you leave someone else having to pay your share.

I wish I had mod points. You've thought things through and offered solutions, like shorter patent terms.

I wholeheartedly agree, a lot of bad patents, mostly overbroad ones or non-novel ones have been granted. That doesn't mean that a specific patent on a legitimately new invention shouldn't be issued just because the inventor built the invention on an SSD rather than discrete transistors. It means USPTO needs to stop issuing patents on things that aren't new, are obvious, or are too broad - all of which is current law.

You're linking to the 2008 version. GP accurately described the version that was actually passed.

The final version even included examples. It says that on one hand taking an old invention and implementing it in software doesn't make it new, on the other hand a new invention that happens to be built in C++ is a new invention. In other words, whether it's software, hardware, firmware, or dinnerware doesn't effect patentability.
Newness controls.

> smartphones and tablets which has nothing to do with free software.

Yeah, it's not like most smartphones run Linux or something. ;)

Microsoft wasn't late; they've been trying to do smartphones for at least ten years. Their system, Windows, just isn't any good for phones. Windows, as it's name implies, is designed for having many windows open doing different things, on hardware large enough to handle many concurrent applications. On a phone, you need to start with a small kernel with real-time capabilities, then build apps on top of that. You need Linux.

Because "those evil business people are hiding the good stuff" is a left-wing belief. Not necessarily wing I guess, did you notice in the campaign Obama motivated the center-left by saying "corporations" every sixth word.

Right wing nutjobs believe entirely different nonsense.

The two dictionaries I checked, including Merriam-Webster, don't list "performant" as a word.

Trying so hard to use "big words" that you resort to using non-words that sound big = douche. Of course "douche" is actually a word.

But Google CAN'T be encrypting a lot of data and rolling out SSL on all of their services.

Just last night here on Slashdot the crooks informed us that while "3 strikes" laws reduced torrent traffic, all those stolen movies and software must have moved to SSL. The increased SSL traffic can't be because the #1 internet company in the world expanded it's use of SSL. It HAS to because penalties for unlawful actions dont work. That's what fits the storyline they want to tell!

"Galleria" is the name of the mall that the store is in. That term doesn't apply "they", the Tesla stores,just that one store is in Galleria mall.

4TB, I believe. AC's conspiracy theory is that all the drive companies have had 50TB drives they've been hiding. Since most of them have been driven out of the hard drive business, I guess they were so committed to the conspiracy that they'd rather fold than get rich selling huge drives.

Such is the logic of the left-wing nutjob conspiracy theorists. Damn the NSA for making them right about something. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Yep, they've had it since 2004, when all twelve of the drive manufacturers agreed to just sit on it while Western Digital kicked their butt in the marketplace. Nine of them went out of business rather than reveal their secret.

This past weekend I walked by the Tesla store in Houston. I guess one of their employees got a dealer's license or something. I know two people with dealer's licenses, one owns a small dealership and the other sells a few cars a month from his front yard, so I guess it's not THAT big of a deal.

Draconian means cruelly severe, after Draco, who specified death and dismemberment for minor offenses we'd have fines for.

Are you really SO spoiled, SO entitled, that you think EVENTUALLY slowing down your high speed internet because you refuse to respect the rights of others is the same as someone having their head chopped off? I didn't know such spoiled brats actually existed, not THAT spoiled.

Maybe when someone is talking about "draconian laws", draco (law giver) would be appropriate. Or just look up draconian.

If you fry them in margarine and cover them with cinnamon they are disgusting. If you mash them with white sugar, butter, and vanilla, stir in beaten eggs and bake, they are extremely delicious.

How did it work out when the Irish tried that? The key word is "survived". The Irish died relying on the potato.