2009/12/18 DaveN <[email protected]>: > <<But I wonder, why are you asking about these patent and/or copyrighy > infringement issues?>> > > It is something that has been bothering me for a long time and never > really has been discussed in the open. To me, the inventor of the > SIFT algorithm deserves some benefit for his work but isn't really > getting it. Sure SIFT has his University's approval for use in non- > commercial work but that seems to be taken by many a bit liberally. > > << To me, at first, it was like you are planning to > release a derivative of Hugin yourself, but apparently I was wrong > (which is good). Did you spot a Hugin rip-off somewhere? >> > > You are right in that I have no plans on releasing a derivative of > Hugin and I don't know of any Hugin rip-offs. I have been evaluating > options for Mac 10.6 and it looks like Autopano Pro is my only > alternative if I want to use SIFT. > > On Dec 18, 8:53 am, Bart van Andel <[email protected]> wrote: >> On 18 dec, 16:33, DaveN <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > Regardless, I seem to be beating a dead horse here. It is clear the >> > feeling here, IMHO, is 'I follow the rules I see fit, ignore the ones >> > I don't see as fit, and have no issue in expecting that my work will >> > not be infringed upon.' >> >> Luckily, that's just your opinion. >> >> But I wonder, why are you asking about these patent and/or copyrighy >> infringement issues? To me, at first, it was like you are planning to >> release a derivative of Hugin yourself, but apparently I was wrong >> (which is good). Did you spot a Hugin rip-off somewhere? >> >> -- >> Bart > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "hugin and other free panoramic software" group. > A list of frequently asked questions is available at: > http://wiki.panotools.org/Hugin_FAQ > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hugin-ptx
Hi Dave, I think that the problem is your attitude to patents and what you thing they are. Moreover you are messing patent law and copyright law which are two completely different things. What are you talking about here are software patents which are only useless crap. Why? The greatest flaw of software patents is that you can't describe very well what software patent is and what is not. Actually, anything could become software patent. Numbers on the bottom pages in books etc. But to my point. The original purpose of patents was to encourage companies to develop new things and thus shift technology towards. This is certainly good thing but it can be used only in some specific industries like chemical industry or medicine. I'll try to explain it better. When you are developing new cure for cancer it costs you millions of dollars, because you have to pay researchers, medical testing and still 99% of your work is in vain. And when you would find the desired cure, any small factory could copy it and sell it much cheaper and the company which invented it would end up in red numbers. Patents are here to allow the company which invents new pills to have monopoly for some time. But what about software? Quite a lot of algorithms are invented by bored students. Does it cost that much? And even if it would, do you really think they have money to pay for patent? It could result (and I'm pretty sure it happens) that some company apply for the patent which was invented by someone else. And even if I knew that the idea origins to someone else I could barely do anything, because no casual people have enough money to pay dozens of the best lawyers. And what is even bigger problem - time. For some slowly moving industry 20 years (just example) are not that much and the chemical/whatewer would be still useful. But for software even a year may be too long. Image someone would patent quicksort or worse using "for" loops. The software industry would be stalled at one point for several years. have a nice day, Lukas -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hugin and other free panoramic software" group. A list of frequently asked questions is available at: http://wiki.panotools.org/Hugin_FAQ To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hugin-ptx
