On Saturday 11 November 2006 20:17, Randall R Schulz wrote:
> On Saturday 11 November 2006 20:21, M Harris wrote:
> > On Sunday 05 November 2006 05:24, you wrote:
> > > Re: software patentability:
> > > I ask this in all seriousness; I don't have a particular
> > > pre-conceived bias one way or the other:
> > >
> > > Why would assembling a collections of "objects" (as in C-objects)
> > > together to perform some function be any different that assembling
> > > a collection of resistors, capacitors and active devices together
> > > to form a "circuit" (which is certainly patentable)?
> >
> > hi Tony,
> >
> > Great question. I asked it also, as I was thinking through
> > this...
> >
> > The answer is simple, but in order to answer it you need to ask
> > another question.... how is "software" like or unlike a collection of
> > resistors and capacitors assembled on a circuit board... compare and
> > contrast.
> >
> > The circuit board containing resistors and capacitors is a
> > physical (meta-physical) construction comprised of real objects
> > manufactured from "stuff" that we generally call matter (we can touch
> > it). Software is text.
>
> Software is not text. Software is the pure essence of mechanism
> operating only on information. Text is just a means of encoding
> information.
Huh?
Software is text. I have been writing it for over twenty years. My tired
wrists tell me so. :)
In fact, that's how - IIRC - Phil Zimmerman avoided being prosecuted by the US
government. He published his PGP software code on Usenet (or some BBS, I
forget). Because he didn't send the compiled code, just the text, it couldn't
be considered a munitions export violation.
I need to look that up to be sure.
In any case, I have always strongly felt that software can be copyrighted.
Even if the copyright acts let the copyright holder to keep the copyright for
a gazillion years, one could write a similar code that doesn't infringe on
the copyright.
Using c-like construct, a company could write...
main()
{
for(;;)
{
cout << "Hello World! ";
}}
...I could then write very easily...
int main()
{
std::cout << "Hello, world!\n";
}
...which could not be considered plagiarism.
That's why I love software. As a language tool (I consider logic and math to
be language-based) It provides a seemingly infinite range of possibilities to
build the same mousetrap.
--
kai
www.perfectreign.com || www.4thedadz.com
a turn signal is a statement, not a request
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