I don't think I would want Billy..(M$) at the table.

Perhaps it would be good for OpenSource. ..never mind perhaps. But think of all the legal crap to go through with what is currently in use now. There is lots of room for arguments on different sections of code.. nevermind the software itself..(assuming it goes that way).

How would "Hello World" be affected, just thinking of it as being in an
educational course?

Would each implementation of the program (C, C+ C++, C#, Pascal, Java, ..) be seperate or under the same copyright? After all if you change a word here and there.. it doesn't make the idea your own. Look at how the music industry implements copyrights. Similar I suppose.

It's different if you hear a tune in your head.. From coding something. When undocumented OpCodes were being used, it was more difficult to determine what was going on bit by bit. ..

..bah.. I am derail my own train of thought. I feel it is a little ridiculous. Perhaps not the single note.. but the entire compilation.

Look at all the nock offs from Wolfenstien. - Doom.. Heritic.. ..Unreal ..(Insert 1st person shooter here).. The idea of the game itself, is basically the same. You could almost say that there was some degree of plagerism with each that followed it's predicessor. But THAT is how a game can evolve.

With a copyright.. to what extent would it apply? Doom was as close to it's predicessor as is each that followed.. Hexen.. Quake.. HalfLife.. ..gezz.. there are alot of them.. SWAT, FBI.. a couple possibly not as known.. These two are simmilar to RainbowSix.. but not quite as well implemented.

I am curious how many of these games would exist with some/any/all copyright. I am certain that anyone out there has heard the question or perhaps even been asked themselves, "how does one secure a computer - perfectly?" And the answer.. "Unplug it. Lock it up in a storage room, and post a gaurd at the door. but even then there is a chance someone will get in to it.." It can apply here too. For software to be unpiratible (is that a word ..well it is now..) Don't save it to disk. just for starters.. and don't stick it in a machine in the first place - especially one that is connected to the net. Don't sell it. Don't create it.

Do nothing. And it will be ok. ..Well kina.

Protection of software by copyright IS the statuts quo in the US, and the last thing I would advocate to continue.

To distill my point from all my ramblings:

I don't think patent is an inappropriate method for protecting software.
I think it is highly customizable, much of the fears of those who oppose software patents are based upon the poor track records of patent prosecution and enforcement, not on fundamental flaws in the system itself.

There are protections in the US patent laws - prior art, utility, non-obviousness, best mode, etc. that if used intelligently could create an environment where open source thrives.

Hmm you have a point. One of the things make software patents such a stupid idea right now is that they don't actually disclose enough information to implement them. The down side to that version of software patenting is that physical devices contain maybe 20 patentable parts, max. A piece of software could contain hundreds of patentable "parts". Unless almost every single one of those liscensors are feeling generous, you'd put commerical software developers out of business, even with that noncommercial use clause.

I agree that it's easier to poke holes than to come up with a good solution. I actually don't have that much of a problem with the current IP setup except for:

1) the bloody DMCA
2) copyrights last too long
3) patents should stick to physical devices, and stay away from software and business models.

After all, copyleft depends on strong copyright protections.

No the patent specifies "limeted resources" and no such GNU/Linux box exist

I'm so sick of people trying to patent software or ideas for software, it's just so damn idiotic. What if i want to write a device driver for something that has the double click option on it? I won't be able to because of MICROSUX stupid patent on the double click. Let me get this straight, you tell a computer what to do by writing programs for it, correct?
You write programs by learning a programming language, correct? Well then how the hell can you patent the way someone writes a program in a programming language! Thats like me saying i want to patent the sentence "Hello how are you" or better yet, thats like me saying i want to patent a brand new way that people greet each other. I am so pissed off because of this!!!!! I am never using MICROSUX's Winblowz EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!! In fact i'm going to go to my girlfriends house first thing when i wake up and i'm going to Format her whole F'ing drive and i'm going to install Mandrake Linux on it. I'm going to try to rid everybody that i know of WINBLOWZ.

Well m$ could patent a lot of things

I agree the DCMA is a travesty. A careful reading of the US Supreme Court's decision in Eldridge v. Ashcroft hints that it may not pass constutional muster (or so I was told by a professor of mine) - fair use is protected by the first amendment.

Patenting buisness models seems even more dubious to me than patenting software. There is a lot less of a concete fucntional product there.

Think copyrights last too long now? Just wait until Disney's stuff is set to expire again. ("Limited Times" for crissakes, people!)

Your component argument is compelling, probably the biggest hole in my ramblings, especially with respect to drivers. Can the free market be trusted to keep drivers from being patented? If you and I had the choice of two nearly identical LAN cards, one which had no support in Linux because of a patented driver, the other with good support for the opposite reason, would you not instantly choose the latter? I would. Are there enough like-mided people to incentivise leaving drivers unpatented? (in a perfect world, there would be no reason to patent a driver - any hardware manufacturer attempting to profit off driver sales would be blasted out of the market quickly, Linux or no - however, thanks to our Justice Department's capitulation, M$'s monopoly power would propbably disort the scenario unfavorably).