Tag: Bad

Categories
Life

Martin Fowler on SOPA

Martin Fowler: “Our third problem is the very poor information given in the congressional proceedings we saw late in 2011. There were no witnesses who could talk sensibly on the engineering issues that we mentioned above, which is particularly important given the lack of engineering knowledge in congress. We don’t expect members of congress to understand software engineering issues, but we do expect them to listen to those that do. In general the proceedings seemed very tilted towards the supporters of these bills, which didn’t provide much opportunity for opponents to state their concerns.”

Scary.

Categories
Business

More on Patent Trolls

Washington Post: Gizmodo senior reporter Mat Honan disagrees, arguing that patent trolling is suffocating America’s ability to innovate, particularly in the technology sector. Honan wrote on Tuesday, “These are the tapeworms crawling through the nutrient-rich belly of American innovation, full of bile and [expletive], slowly starving us to death.”

Sigh.

Categories
Business

Software Patents Are Good, Right?

Cigarettes suckguardian.co.uk: “Simon Maddox, a UK developer, has removed all his apps from US app stores on both iOS and Android for fear of being sued by Lodsys, a company which has already sued a number of iOS and Android developers which it says infringe its software patent.”

Remember boys and girls, software patents are good for you!

No, wait, it gets worse. Apple is now suing HTC over silly stuff. This is definitely not moving technology and innovation forward. It’s taking us backward.

I feel really bad for the Indies of the software world. They’re just trying to eek out a living and they have to deal with Patent Trolls that don’t actually create anything. Pathetic.

Categories
Apple

Draconian App Store Rules

Jim Dovey: “The store was removed because Apple rejected any updates which included it, period. They also rejected any updates which stated that Apple required its removal, or indeed any mention of ‘compliance with App Store guidelines’. It was further rejected for the cardinal sin of allowing users to create a Kobo account within the app. Then it was rejected for providing a link to let users create an account outside the app. Then it was rejected for simply mentioning that it was possible to sign up, with no direction on where or how one could do that. Then it was rejected for making any mention of the Kobo website. Then for any mention of ‘our website’ at all, in any language. We additionally cannot make any assertions that Kobo provides content for sale, however obliquely.”

How annoying. Makes you want to poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick. Less pain.

I don’t much care for it, but it is their store, they make the rules. Either take it, or leave it. Enough leave it and they’ll make a change. Vote with your wallet.

Categories
Business Cloud Life

The Dark Side of the Cloud

Skull and BonesThomas Monopoly @thomasmonopoly: “On July 15 2011 you turned off my entire Google account. You had absolutely no reason to do this, despite your automated message telling me your system “perceived a violation.” I did not violate any Terms of Service, either Google’s or account specific ToS, and your refusal to provide me with any proof otherwise makes me absolutely certain of this. And I would like to bring to your attention how much damage your carelessness has done.”

Here’s an example of The Mythical Cloud gone wrong.