__/ [ Paul Bramscher ] on Tuesday 27 February 2007 01:52 \__
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> __/ [ Ian Hilliard ] on Monday 26 February 2007 19:34 \__
>>
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>> MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> | Now, with a cloud over the de facto industry standard, companies that
>>>> | rely on MP3 may finally have sufficient motivation to move on. And
>>>> | that raises some tantalizing possibilities, including a real long
>>>> | shot: Open-source, royalty-free formats win.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>>
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/music/0,72785-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1
>>>>
>>>> You can taste the irony of Microsoft?s patent positions on MP3 and Linux
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> | Just when fear enjoys a energetic caddy (Ballmer) on Microsoft's
>>>> | repeated foray into Linux legal uncertainty, a real law suit with
>>>> | real trial lawyers and a real jury ironically slaps down Microsoft
>>>> | as a potential world-record intellectual property (IP) infringer.
>>>> | Yup, Microsoft the purported victim of Linux, is in fact the major
>>>> | MP3 format predator, or so says the assemblage of 12 informed peers.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>> http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2419
>>> Microsoft are really caught between the rock and the hardplace. On the
>>> one hand, Microsoft has been pushing software patents as being their best
>>> hope to stop the open source movement. On the other hand, their deep
>>> pockets have attracted a dearth of patent trolls. What is happening to
>>> Microsoft at the moment is likely to only get worse.
>>>
>>> In the mean time, I'm sure that the Chinese are sitting back and laughing
>>> as the large Western corporations go into a feeding frenzy on each other.
>>> Those countries without these broken patent laws will clearly be the
>>> winners out of all this nonsense.
>>
>> Yes, it has been said before by a couple of people whose stuff I regularly
>> read. The Asian industry will continue to innovate while the west
>> litigates (company destroying one another). As far as the Internet is
>> concerned, the Chinese may already have an edge. Just think about IPv6.
>> It's ironic that the stuff which was made to defend large companies (not
>> the small guy whose idea can be stolen by giants) is what's going to have
>> them destored. Not by the small companies... but by companies that reside
>> in fertile ground for development.
>
> I'm happy to sit back and watch American Fortune-500's bleed whatever's
> left of American jobs to the developing world and Asia, let overpaid
> non-technical suit-and-ties drive their IT/engineering departments over
> the brink, etc. It's the new American Way. Why should we in the US/UK
> have respect for big industry now, given its excesses and abuses during
> the Industrial Age (sweatshops, child labor, captive company towns, etc.)?
>
> A "company" (fictitious person) has shown itself to be little more than
> a group of suit-and-ties who've paid for the right, and cleared the
> legal way, to exploit a group of workers/professionals.
>
> That said, if America is on the decline, the real crime is that property
> values have likewise been nailed by racketeers -- with our real earning
> power down, you'd think real estate would also come down in price.
>
> I get the feeling, as an IT employee in the US, that I'm competing
> downwardly for salary with someone in India, but fighting upwardly for
> real estate with distant banks and groups of wealthy investors who
> artificially float the price of properties just out of sensible reach.
> Will there even be an American middle-class in 10 years?
I wholeheartedly agree. My concern as a software engineer is that there will
be no prospects in this area, not because of Free Open Source software, but
because of the dilution of the job market. As you shrewdly point out,
"business" comprises a bunch of lucky founders (sometimes backed by a
history of 'dirty tricks') who seek to exploit the most people, pay them the
least money, and thereby boost their bank account (or extend the size of
their yacht). The American Way is no longer about liberalism or even
patriotism. It leans more towards self benefits and pride is taken if the US
treasury gets fatter at the expense of other countries (never mind who
actually sees part of this wealth). Sadly, the intersection between industry
and domestic/foreign policies cannot be ignores. So such a selfish way of
life often results in deaths and degradation of the state of the planet.
I guess the not-so-bright 50 Cent summarised the new American Way quite well:
"Get rich or die trying".
--
~~ Best wishes
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