Software patents

I hate software patents.

Ever since I read about some company owning a patent on XORing a cursor on and off the screen, I've been a software patent hater.  Software copyrighting - no problems, no issues.  Software patents - nothing but big paychecks for lawyers with more vocabulary than sense.

So, with a disdain for software patents in mind, head to Betanews to read the latest on Microsoft v. AT&T - apparently, lawyers are trying to get the Supreme Court to say that electrons are patentable.  The Supremes blaked at patenting photons, though...

Gut reaction?  MS got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and is now trying to redefine "hands" and "cookie jar".  I wonder what the backlash will be - if MS wins, then sending copies of Vista CD's overseas won't be a license violation.  I'm not sure what MS is trying to win here, but they better be careful what they wish for.

My one wish is that the Supremes do tackle the issue of whether software in patentable.  Of course, given their track record the past few years, they may find patents are legal, and that the whole of the American population is in violation and owes fines to AT&T.

UPDATE: More on this case from ZDNet.

del.icio.us tags: microsoft, patents, law

All good things...

...must come to an end.  And even some not so good things, to think about it.

Anyway, what's coming to an end?  Easy - support for old software, of course!  In this case, the old software is Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1, also called XPE SP1.  When is also easy - April 10, 2007 (that's Patch Tuesday in April, for those of you keeping score at home).  What this means is that the April Embedded Security Update Rollup CD will be the last one to contain any SP1 specific updates.

Full details can be found on the Embedded Team Blog, as well as the Mobile and Embedded Communications Extranet (also called the ECE).  Details on MS Lifecycle Policy can be found on, oddly enough, this Microsoft web page.

The App Compat War

You know, there's a bit of a scuffle going on about Vista needing a good graphics card - apparently, Intel doesn't like the fact that nVidia chips are now more important to Joe Average-Windows-User.  I personally don't mind - more memory and a better video card were in the works for me anyway (Blender bogged XP down something fierce, and I wanted better graphics for Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights anyway).  Seriously, if you want to bitch, bitch about app compatibility.

I've got a box at home that runs a non-MS operating system on it - yes, it's Linux, specifically Fedora Core 6.  What can I say - I'm a Unix guy from way back in college, and I'm a computer hobbyist.  This machine sits in my office along with the main XP machine, my W2K3 server, cable modem, and wireless router - only the XP machine is headed.  I RDP into the W2K3 box, and the router has an HTML interface I can hit from anywhere on the homenet - that leaves my Linux box.  I use Cygwin/X and XDMCP to connect to it from the XP machine.  But, if my wife is using the XP machine, that means I have to use my Vista laptop instead.  And here's where the trouble is...

Cygwin doesn't like Vista - or is it the other way around?  Anyway, bash won't run on Vista under Cygwin, and XDMCP just hangs there - apparently, the X Server won't start under Vista.  And it's not just Cygwin - I tried Xming as well, which is a lighter version of the same X11 server, and it doesn't nothing either (at least it's more responsive to close requests.

On a more virtual level, I ran the Vista Upgrade Advisor on my home machine - the HW is all good, but I got a bunch of software compatibility warnings.  To be fair, I get many of the same warnings on my work machine, but it's still worrying - it took me a week or so to get my laptop setup with Vista, and that doesn't count all the HW issues (it's a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet - requires a new BIOS and I had to wait for updated drivers for a few things to work right).  The laptop works wonderfully now, but my wife will have a fit if it takes me a week to get everything setup so she can read email and play her games again.  I'll keep you posted on the results...

I guess the practical upshot is: Don't sweat the new hardware.  Sweat the multiple downloads and the long hunt for updated drivers and software you'll be doing.  Adding memory and a PCI/X video card are cake in comparison.