martin_swain - Slashdot User

Comment A union gig is great, if you can get one (Score 1) 467

by martin_swain on Wednesday July 03, 2013 @06:12PM (#44182707) Attached to: BART Strike Provides Stark Contrast To Tech's Non-Union World

I am a developer in Canada, one of my workmates went to a job working for a local city. It's a union shop, so he gets; pay raises according to a fixed pay grid, advances according to seniority, all holidays off and so on. Not a bad gig if you can get it, IMO.

Comment Tempest in a tea pot (Score 1) 215

by martin_swain on Thursday May 16, 2013 @12:21PM (#43741945) Attached to: Canada Courts, Patent Office Warns Against Trying To Patent Mathematics

What's the big deal? Yes all computer programs are math, and no, they can't and shouldn't be patented. However, they are automatically copyrighted, and that's as it should be. If I write a program (which I do a lot it's my job), then the actual code I write is copyrighted and if anyone steals it they're in trouble. However, if someone sees my app codes up one just like it, no problem. If they didn't steal my actual code there's no copyright infringement. OTOH, if programs were patentable, there would be a patent infringement. In case anyone needs it spelled out, that would mean the end of open source software.

Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89

Posted by timothy on Monday January 04, 2010 @03:59AM from the not-just-register-their-displeasure dept.

Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"

Hand Written Clock 86

Posted by samzenpus on Monday December 14, 2009 @02:11PM from the up-to-the-minute dept.

a3buster writes "This clock does not actually have a man inside, but a flatscreen that plays a 24-hour loop of this video by the artist watching his own clock somewhere and painstakingly erasing and re-writing each minute. This video was taken at Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009."

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