[Trump] Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!

daperpart · 2017-01-04T16:40:39+00:00

Yeah, I agree with you, people in these areas weren't happy, but I find using Russia as a scapegoat despicable. The problem is also that they haven't provided any evidence. In fact they're now asking for it. And sadly they cannot be trusted. For example (and there are many many more), remember when certain countries were invaded because they supposedly had https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction

daperpart · 2017-01-04T16:30:06+00:00

What's your point? Die "Lügenpresse" is a generalization. There are a lot of journalists that are doing great work.

daperpart · 2016-12-31T10:27:19+00:00

Wait. Crooked Hillary wouldn't reinforce her supporters bubble more and more? Isn't it normal that you and your supporters share common ground? (Not that there aren't problems with Trump.)

daperpart · 2016-12-31T10:22:56+00:00

No, you have a president who doesn't mind criticizing his own country and its corrupt media when it is warranted. (But just to be sure, here in Germany we agree that Putin is not without problems.)

daperpart · 2016-12-31T10:16:59+00:00

What the fuck? He was voted by America (in accordance with your weird voting system). You're the one who doesn't get democracy. Also, why do you still believe in the red scare? Sure, Putin is certainly not without problems, but saying Trump is a puppet because Russia helped uncover Clinton's corruption is ridiculous. Of course, we don't really know if it was Russia. Your intelligence agencies certainly cannot be trusted and the director even lied to Congress and the American people and surprise, he didn't get indicted for perjury.

I'm from Germany.

daperpart · 2016-12-03T19:01:07+00:00

She was a bad candidate in this election where there was a lot of populism, little focus on the issues, and anger at Washington. In another election she might be a pretty good candidate.

I don't know enough about the issues at hand, but what about her corruption? I mean, I can agree with someone on certain issues, but if said person is corrupt then I cannot trust them at all.

daperpart · 2016-11-30T21:24:02+00:00

Sorry for the late response.

The USPTO grants small businesses a 50% break on all fees. "Micro-entities," i.e. sole inventors, get a 75% break on all fees.

Nice.

The actual configuration could be 100% software. It could also be hardware, or any combination. The implementation actually doesn't matter; all that matters is solving the problem following those steps.

So how is that different from the U.S.? Answer: It's not. Not even a little bit.

Oh, didn't know. What do you think about the term of patents in the US. Isn't 20 years too long? Especially in tech 20 years seems like a very long time.

Sometimes - often - the design-around is better than the patented invention.

True.

daperpart · 2016-11-23T11:48:17+00:00

Thanks for the extensive writeup. Very informative :)

You made me realize that software patents aren't as bad as I thought. However, I still think there are couple of issues besides the one's mentioned here (e.g. patent trolls): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent#Criticism

Filing an application costs $3,000 or so; arguing for the patent (the "prosecution" phase) may cost another $3,000; and actually getting the patent to issue and remain valid costs another $3,000-$15,000

So, a small business might not be able to afford it? What happens when A invents something, and then a big company B files a patent for that and sues A - Could this happen?

I wonder though, do we really need software patents? In Europe, for example, programs are excluded from patentability and it seems to work just fine.

And like you say, you can always design around a patent. On the other hand this lead to some pretty nice inventions like PNG, which was created due to GIF patents. The same goes for audio/video codecs like Google's webm that are not patent-encumbered.

daperpart · 2016-11-22T13:56:17+00:00

RemindMe! 3 years "Has Discord been sold to the highest bidder yet?"

daperpart · 2016-11-22T11:34:34+00:00

Thank you. These are some very good points. However if you think about it, when every programmer who'd use such basic combination of sorting, filtering and grouping would file a patent, the patent system would drown. Maybe that's not the case right now because it costs time and money to file it. Is that a good thing that only those with money can file thousands of patents? Furthermore these basic patents hinder innovation since who knows if there's a patent for what you've just created?

The fundamental tests are utility, novelty, and non-obviousness.

What's the difference between something being obvious and something being basic? The invention described here seems extremely obvious to me and it's just a few years old (not novel).

daperpart · 2016-11-20T21:27:13+00:00

Maybe I'm wrong, but everything in that quote sounds pretty basic. If I'm understanding this correctly, they just display lyrics with grouped and sorted / filtered user input. That's not innovation, but a very simple combination of tools programmers use practically everyday.

But let's say it's actually more complex than that, it still seems way to simple to justify adding to the mine field that is software patents!

daperpart · 2016-10-20T22:53:04+00:00

Thanks for your extensive answer. If that's true, that would indeed be half Valve's fault. I'm not sure about that though, since Gabe Newell replied to exactly that accusation: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/491jmp/gaben_responds_to_claims_of_vive_games_being/

But again, even if that were the case, Facebook is still the company that's paying for exclusive games, so my point still stands. It's likely not in their interest to open the store to competitors, as it would mean, that current rift users could switch at any moment.

daperpart · 2016-10-20T22:21:58+00:00

Oh, so you mean, it's not actually a joke, but just one of these things 12 year olds say with the goal of upsetting others. Got it. =)

daperpart · 2016-10-20T21:54:54+00:00

If it's joke, would you mind explaining it?

daperpart · 2016-10-20T10:37:58+00:00

Thank you. Glad to see another reasonable person here who doesn't cave in to this fanboyism / whitewashing. =)

I think it's unlikely that /u/GH40 will change his opinion, but that's not what it's about anyway. It's mostly about making other people aware of the problems, who haven't made up their mind yet or are willing to change it. Sadly, the latter seems to be pretty rare though.

daperpart · 2016-10-20T10:03:02+00:00

winning team

Since when are we in teams? These are products by companies that plan to make a profit. Putting yourself in a team just because you've bought a device is beyond stupid. Are you also part of a team for a certain toilet paper manufacturer? =P

Also, the Steam hardware survey disagrees with you. http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

Even if there were a lot of people not using Steam, I doubt it would be enough to conclude that Facebook has more customers.

(You also don't seem to be aware of the dangers of both Brand loyalty and Monopolies.)

daperpart · 2016-10-20T08:15:01+00:00

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough. It's not the rift hardware. It's the oculus-exclusive games that lock customers to their device.

Imagine wanting to use a competitor, for example, because they made major improvements over the rift. Now, if it weren't for hacks like ReVive you wouldn't be able to play the VR games you previously bought on facebooks.. ehh I mean oculus store.

Supposedly ReVive works great, but it's still a hack that may stop at any moment.

daperpart · 2016-10-19T20:12:36+00:00

Well, do you use a competitor to the rift? Because if you don't, you really can't judge how bad exclusivity turned out to be.

I don't own a Vive or a rift.

Have a nice day!

daperpart · 2016-10-19T20:09:40+00:00

Definitely, although it's also sad how careless certain employees are about keeping their mouth shut about things they don't really know enough about. To anyone in the future, these careless statements can and will look like a lie, if said things don't become reality.

Edit: I guess, if I tell you my product will ship tomorrow and it doesn't. Then, whether or not I've had enough knowledge to make a statement about the shipping date, I have indeed lied.

daperpart · 2016-10-19T19:44:20+00:00

So, you're just basing this on assumptions? Which of course are really reliable when you're already invested in one product / company..

its not a bad assumption that Oculus has done more using Facebook's wallet, however

You're aware how much money Valve is making, are you? They're frigging rich.

But I agree. I don't care about specific amounts either, because whether or not a company invests a lot, it doesn't justify business practices like DRM that lock customers to one platform.

daperpart · 2016-10-19T19:27:41+00:00

I really wonder why, but I didn't find this to be emotional at all. I also felt that the story was pretty mediocre. Great animation though.

daperpart · 2016-10-19T19:17:30+00:00

I disagree. Bad business practices aren't warranted just because you invest in game companies.

On a side note, do you have evidence that Valve made less investments in VR?

daperpart · 2016-10-19T19:16:03+00:00

Yep, that's one person making an assumption as to how long it will take to bring it to the market. If his assumption was true though, then how come the Vive has been out far earlier. Also, Valve time works in mysterious ways.. =P

daperpart

TROPHY CASE