Becareful your child does not violate the Swing Patent!

[GreyGeek]

US Patent# 6,368,227

US Patent# 6,368,227

Method of swinging on a swing

Abstract

A method of swing on a swing is disclosed, in which a user positioned on a standard swing suspended by two chains from a substantially horizontal tree branch induces side to side motion by pulling alternately on one chain and then the other.

And, here is proof that Bill Gates tries to use the patent system to block competition:
http://iowa.gotthefacts.org/011607/3000/PX03020.pdf

One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn’t try to make the “ACPI” extensions somehow Windows specific.

It seems unfortunate if we do this work and get our partners to do the work and the result is that Linux works great without having to do the work.

Maybe there is no way to avoid this problem but it does bother me.

Maybe we could define the API’s so that they work well with NT and not the others even if they are open.

Or maybe we could patent something related to this.

What's wrong with that? The ACPI is an OPEN STANDARD!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance...ower_Interface

Only a FOOL, or a corrupt, bribe taking politician and the corporate thug who gave the bribe, would call the US patent system a good thing.

(Edited by Snowhog to create a 'short' link for US Patent# 6,368,227 above)

[Ole Juul]

Re: Becareful your child does not violate the Swing Patent!

And your grandpa!
Anway, it is dubious whether anyone ever really "invents" anything and MicroSoft is certainly in good company with this:

Method of concealing partial baldness
Abstract:
A method of styling hair to cover partial baldness using only the hair on a person's head. The hair styling requires dividing a person's hair into three sections and carefully folding one section over another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Combover_patent.jpg
I can see an old age home getting a site license ...

[dibl]

Re: Becareful your child does not violate the Swing Patent!

The original public purpose of a Government-granted patent was a good idea, and fostered a lot of extremely valuable inventions, which have been of great benefit to society (American and otherwise). But, in the realm of software and high-speed computing, it seems the engineering and technical expertise that is required to examine a patent application for merit, plus the sheer volume of the applications, if far exceeding the Government's ability to staff and execute. As my late father used to say "The road to Hell is paved with golden intentions."

Today's two cents' worth.