On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:25, Steve Holdoway wrote: > Christopher Sawtell wrote: > >On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 18:26, Steve Holdoway wrote: > >>Christopher Sawtell wrote: > >>>On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 16:25, Carl Cerecke wrote: > >>>>Douglas Royds wrote: > >>>>>Carl Cerecke wrote: > >>>>>>Here is an interesting article of IP issues relating to software from > >>>>>>a NZ perspective. > >>>>>> > >>>>>>http://www.chapmantripp.co.nz/resource_library/published_article.asp? > >>>>>>id = 4157 > >>>>> > >>>>>Note in particular that you can - according to this article - patent > >>>>>both software source code and business practices in NZ. Joy. > >>>> > >>>>So I noticed. I didn't realise software was patentable in NZ. Maybe the > >>>>article is incorrect? I don't remember seeing anything about it. > >>> > >>>There was a horrendously complex 'position paper' released by them bods > >>> in Wellington about a year ago iirc. They did the normal thing > >>> requesting considered comment about a fortnight before the date set > >>> aside for debate in Parliament. Thus there were no, or very few, > >>> comments. NZ was put over the proverbial barrel, and the IP quid pro > >>> quo for the Free Trade Treaty got stuffed up you know where. Am I > >>> surprised, no, I'm not. Our ignorant representatives in Parliament got > >>> the wool pulled over their eyes by the Colonial Masters of The Moment > >>> and they did as they were told. > >>>Tragically, it happens only too often. > >>> > >>>If I was younger I would be heading off the Europe. There is still a > >>>remote chance that sanity might break lose there. > >>> > >>>-- > >>>C. S. > >> > >>Sorry Chris, > >> > >>The last vote in the Euro parliament was staved off solely by the action > >>of those software giants, the Poles. > > > >We owe the Poles a tremendous vote of gratitude. > >Their cracking of the Enigma codes was vital to the eventual defeat of > > Germany by non-nuclear means. ( Yes I know Turing et al helped a lot, but > > the main thrust to the solution was Polish ) > > > >Other countries have now joined in with the No-patents side. > > > >>You wouldn't want to go there anyway. > > > >Oh yes I would. The food is scrumptious. The countryside is populated by > > both people and wild creatures. The laws are fairly sane. There is a > > decent level of care for ordinary people. Certainly that is the case in > > France and Germany as I understand it. > > ...and you're replying to someone who was born in a country that's been > at war with the French for over 1000 years? So was I actually, but we must not let the idiocy of our ancestors get in the way of how we think about and behave towards the fellow inhabitants of the one world in which we all live.
> Also, how well to you speak French/German. 10 years of school French. It's 50+ years ago, but a refresher with L'Alliance Francaise ( How do you do Cedillas on an Anglo-Saxon keyboard? ) would do wonders I'm sure. No German unfortunately because I went to school in the aftermath of the WWII when _anything_ German was frowned on. > You really won't be able to get by without it. The > Netherlands, maybe, as they all speak English as well, but do you really > want to live in a country about the size of Canterbury, but with > 12,000,000+ inhabitants ( and even more pigs )? With all due respect to list readers from the Netherlands, not much. > >>Most of them drive on the wrong side of the road for a start (: > > > >So? It only takes a moment or two to get used to that. The good thing > > about the roads in Europe is that there is none of that idiotic and > > dangerous "always give way to the right" rule. They are good enough to > > allow you to travel more or less, and within reason, as fast as you want. > > No. It doesn't. Trust me. I spent 10 years working on Mainland europe. > And if you don't give way to the right ( where there are no lines on the > road telling you not to ), then you're going to need a very good > insurance package, 'cos you're in the wrong. But giving way to the right in Europe is equivalent to giving way to the left here, because as Volker so correctly points out they drive on the RIGHT side of the road. That's actually sensible because there is an expanse of windscreen for you to see through, whereas here all you have to look through here is an opaque door pillar and the person turning right in front of you suddenly appears out of nowhere going like the clappers. I've had so many near misses, that I've given driving away. > And even the Germans are talking about bringing in blanket speed limits over the autobahns Goodness gracious - really? > ( to approximately quote Clarkson 'what's the point of Germany then?' ). Indeed. > Max > speed limits that I can remember: Norway 110, Sweden 120, France 130, > Belguim 120, Netherlands 120, Denmark 120, UK 70 ( = 115 ). What's the > difference? Not much I agree. > I think think this is a serious case of the grass being greener. Oh yes. I did say "If I was younger", and that covers for that. :-) > Just look at the number of people migrating here. One can also point out the quite large number of skilled people emigrating from here too. I seem to remember that of the order of a quarter of adult Kiwis now live overseas. > Including this extremely grateful one. Yes, I'm grateful too, I just wish it was possible to find half interesting and reasonably paid employment. The employment laws are so biased to the employee and the general population so xenophobic it's completely impossible. -- C. S.
