Pharma patents have many problems as well. 20 year monopolies there are costing lives and the costs and incentives can be managed in other ways besides monopolies.

That said, you can't compare a program someone writes up in their house and distributes to the world.. with the requirements to have a laboratory, manufacturing plant, expensive distribution channel, associated safety testing, and then the price that must be charged to get the product out to the same millions of people that got the software. And did I say the software was delivered in seconds?

Software is math and speech. It is based on an idealized model that defies the constraints of physics (as is the case for fiction writers).

Certainly, hand-cuffing world+dog on something that many derive independently does not promote the progress. So if it does not promote the progress, it falls out of scope. If it violates the First Amendment, it also can't be legal on this count.

>> For example, if I find a way to compress video by a factor 10 higher than MPEG

I want to point out that most software patents don't contribute anything remotely complex like this.

Also, mathematicians have been doing this sort of stuff for ages without getting patents.

Finally, I don't care if patent authors don't produce source code. An absurdity, however, is that those that produce full source and much innovation don't get any automatic protection at all. You have to be wealthy and have lots of time on your hands to be writing up patents… Well, the system is very broken and rewards this foolishness, so I can understand there would be some temptation to exploit the system.

[42] — [I'll take a short-cut for this entry and mention that the "git" distributed source control software almost surely has a number of interesting and useful features/use-cases that could have been patented. And yes, we could find patentable material in just about any FOSS project or even any source code file because the US patent system has such a low bar to granting out patents. The USPTO will give a patent to almost anything that is different and apparently not patented before. Of course, the overly specific will not produce very broad and sought after patents at all.]

*****

OK, in a few hours (Saturday morning before noon, which was when I read your reply), I was able to come up with a list of 40+ items.

Yet you said *all* of open source had only a *few* innovations? Hogwash.

You made this claim obviously after reading the few hundred million lines of open source code that exist out there and all related notes I presume?

No, I think you would gain by re-evaluating your understanding of open source innovation and the absurdity of patents.

Maybe I will formalize some of the above "inventions" (and make it a little less specific — always broad broad broad) and pay a very very large amount of money to the patent office.

Then I can stall progress for 20 years in all of the above mentioned ways.

Or, I can just go along my merry way trying to contribute to open source as many tens of thousands do daily and stay clear of the shame that is the patent system.

Patents are a sick joke on those that aren't wealthy and sitting around with little more to do than to harass society drawing up patents and perhaps even posting in online forums their support of this indecent unconstitutional systems. [or pressured to try to keep up with other commercial companies for defensive purposes.]

FWIW, Red Hat and Novell just invalidated 3 patents that some patent troll was trying to use to damage open source. It took 3 years and lots of money to right this wrong. That is a lot of money and resource which could have gone to instead continue to innovate and build great open source.

As for the troll, maybe next time the troll will find patents that aren't a copy of existing prior art. Patent authors are great at copying others' ideas (or maybe repeating inventions independently by different folks is common) and then trying to hold back progress by installing a toll booth to be controlled solely by them courtesy of our corporatized government's unconstitutional illegal patent law.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/novell-red…

And in case you are wondering, I doubt you will find just which lines of open source code implement the above items; however, it's a long but almost academic exercise to hack some version of the above functionality into the existing code bases. If trolls are allowed to write up broad patent claims without an implementation of a full product and call it innovation, surely I can do the same if the above were to meet the same standards of such patent claims. And this is why I need your help in finding prior art for any/all of the above items.

– .. Have a mode where all the subfolders are lined up at the bottom and you can quickly pass by the subfolders and then hit down in a fast motion right around the right vicinity (based on the sounds you hear). If a particular resolution is not met, then the first downward movement eliminates all but (eg) 2 or 3 of the subfolders which then appear spread out widely. A second downward jerk of the mouse at the right spot would be easier to be on target since the folders would be far from each other (eg, 3 at left, center, and right, rather than 20 subfolders all next to each other).

– .. As a special automatic mode, have the sound coming from each folder be a pitch that suggests the size of the total contents of the subfolder (or maybe only going in one level at a time, etc). As another blend mode, have the pitch sound be based on last access time. As a special blend mode, have the frequency distribution of the file types inside the folders (eg, picture or png or word document or spreadsheet..) help shape the frequency sound.

– .. Allow for the user to speak or type key words (of some metadata type) and then have the sound profile of the searching be tuned to folders/files based on those key words.

– A Live Distro (live distro examples can be dug up here: http://distrowatch.com/ ) where you can set a mode so that every menu item you select from the desktop menu or from an application menu gives a tutorial for that entry (eg, it could be a video or animation or picture or some text). This would be a quick way to learn how to use any part of the distro without having to manually look up help docs of any sort. When you want help, just switch to learn mode and click away.

– .. Create Live Distros to cater to hobbies and to social causes. This would allow all the tools necessary and already expertly set up to be shared freely (and legally, of course) and easily (eg, a CD) with others sharing the same goals. The Live Distro is ideal for this and conflicts are not a problem because the live environment defines a new environment entirely. [Note, virtualization can simulate this but it's not as likely to work because of multiple competing standards and because many people don't even have virtualization set up.]

– Build a distro and PC system that has all of the relevant source code in the hard drive. We tag all projects (all source code) with metadata describing "all" aspects of the project (eg, all the interfaces implemented, the source location and uuid, the license of every single line if necessary…). You then update the distro by picking the app interface you want rather than to install a pre-cooked package. Thus, by specifying the properties of what you want, the distro decides what to compile with which parameters and if to recompile other applications or move them around. This helps solve the conflict scenarios that exist when you package something with details (but no associated metadata description) that then conflict with other details chosen by other packagers. The metadata has to be extensive and thorough, eg, specifying (implicitly in most cases) how conflicts would be resolved (eg, move the server port or rename something, etc). The computer would cache past compilations.

– .. Allow applications to be downloaded simply by their metadata file. After security checks, the applications would get built automatically based on this metadata bundle (which of course, lists the source through a network uuid of its components (including of patches)). If necessary (based on priority rules or user manual input), rebuild parts of the existing system to accommodate the new application. Download any necessary patches and source. In short, a metadata file re-adjusts the state of the computer.

– .. Build an application for the source PC that allows you to click on any application and have pop up the relevant body of source code. Then you can change any lines in any of the files and hit a button and the app would be recompiled under a different name with relevant entries being created in menus for easy access to your fork. Essentially: click, type, click and you have a fork.

[40] — .. And also be able to click on running software and the source code pertaining to where the application was when clicked would be highlighted for you. [This is possible with apps created with debugging info.] A context menu would allow you to see not just the top window application but also the lines where the kernel, the window manager, etc, were at that point in time.

– Create a tetris or similar set of games where you can simulate a patent monopoly world: eg, every shape combination that falls on your screen first, cannot be reproduced by your competitor (monopoly, remember). This will point out how ridiculous it can be to apply monopolies if you wish to promote the progress.

– .. There are many variations to the Monopoly-tris game, including: (b) allowing others to reuse block patterns you "monopolize" for a fraction of their points, (c) you can show as a soft shadow all the places where dropping the block would result in a violation so that you have warning (this is cheating since in the real world you can't tell what patents apply), (d) the point fractions the other person wants as a royalty can be shown within the soft shadows so that you can pick your poison.

– Write up a game (eg, a space shooter) that simulates the result of a test given to a student (eg, a timed math word problem or spelling or … test). A group of students would, for example, be able to figure out which student did best and which students had trouble with certain sections, and which students were fast in other sections, etc, based on how their animation "fight" plays out. [It's a way to add fun to learning and to tests.]

– .. Have the animation be generated in real time and to display head-to-head "combat". For example, the students solve problems in private but the publicly displayed animated "battle" sequence cues in how they are doing relative to each other.

– .. Have this same driver mechanism but used in nonviolent games such as showing one character having more success finding more interesting objects in a forest scene more quickly or hopscotching more successfully.

– As an aid to the visually impaired (or anyone else), allow documents to be saved automatically with an attached sound file or pitch profile (eg, use mouse scratching to help define the pitch profile).

– .. Then create a search file mode where, say you have a folder opened up taking up the whole screen and where the files are inside scattered around (eg, an example of this is the typical free range desktop icon placement or the pinned example given earlier) and the sound you hear is a blend of the sounds coming from all the files. The blend can be based on the distance of that sound from the mouse pointer.

– .. A mode of the blending can allow for all files out of a certain radius to make no sound and any file more than a certain fraction closer than all others to be heard exclusively.

[30] — .. You can click on different key or mouse button or similar to cause the modes to change quickly. This can allow you to use various blend techniques where one type might be optimized to allow you to home in on a type of file when far away and then another blend type would be optimized to spot out files quickly when various related types would be near each other.

– .. This can form a way to file documents in a more graphical way (to help add mental context): The chosen directory is like a scroll parchment that is unwrapped by large animated hands. The pinned document icon is then inserted there much as you could on the desktop. You also see past document states that were saved onto that parchment as other pinned icons. Then the scroll rolls up again.

– .. Additionally, at the time of pinning the document, you can add notes and metadata onto a smaller scroll animation that folds up into a small roll and gets thrown into the document. The number and type of notes can be seen by mousing over the pinned document icon or by opening the document.

– Have an app that allows you to pick files or parts of files (eg, by typing the file name, marking an existing open file, or by generating the file names/locations through some other app) and visually show where on the hard drive or CD these files lie (eg, it would be a fraction of one or more circles). You can zoom in all the way to actually see the words based on where they lie on that media.

– With a monitor that has speaker sections on its various sides, you can control the surround sound direction and intensity by, eg, scribbling with the mouse on the desktop to indicate the direction and strength of sound (so mousing back and forth various times near the top right of the screen and then quickly on the left side would have most sound come from the top left speakers but a little on the left side as well). [Many alternatives to mouse scribbling exist: eg, slider, button, text controls.]

– .. The type of scribbling (ie, the selected mode/options) can allow you to define the types of sounds, eg, background music, website flash advertisements, alarm of various types, "you've got mail" notices, results of various batch processing, etc. This way, you know based on where the sound is coming from, what application is putting forth that sound.

– ..You can add in effects (like delays, frequency envelop shaping, volume control) also on a per sound category and location basis.

– .. Allow the sounding controls to be scriptable, in particular, integrate such specifications into many types of apps and context menus. This would allow for a running application's periodic results to be brought to your attention in a specific way (ie, special effect, volume, and sound location) depending on the actual resulting values or progress.

– A new torrent protocol would allow you to specify which parts of files you want to be chunked out first (there would be something like a probability distribution). The distribution can vary with respect to properties of the time of day, of the downloader, etc. This distribution information can remain private and solely under the control of the torrent file owner.

[20] — .. A graphical mousing tool would allow you to scratch (ie, scribble) at an image of the torrent file to define this same distribution information. [You could use many other widgets to define the distribution manually.]

[But before I get started, let me ask you how many of the hundreds of millions of lines of open source code have you read in your life?]

*****

– Desktop Windows that you can grab by the corner with an animated hand-grabbing-icon mouse pointer and "fling" to the side by moving the mouse quickly in the up, down, left, or right direction so that the windows moves like a piece of paper and comes to rest (neatly or not, depending on the mode) over on the relevant side of the monitor screen as a very small icon hinting at the contents of the Windows.

– Further, you can set up stacks of windows on various topics where the application document being thrown was tagged with metadata so that when you flick the windows to the side it goes straight to rest at the top of the stack that is controlled by such metadata.

– A graphic 2D or 3D game that interacts with your desktop, eg, allowing for the following: a character from the game pops up and moves over to your cursor or mouse pointer and starts humming, tapping foot, etc, so as to let you know (as an alarm) that it is time for you to take a break and play some games.

– .. the character can be easily prompted to display a handful of cards, such that when you pick a card, that determines to which of your saved points in the game you return.

– .. before you dive into the game, the character can be instructed to grab icons representing a few of your files which later will be shown to you at some point when you are playing the game as a way to get you to pause the game and think about your work. These flashes of your work documents might be shown, eg, during a slow moment in the game when enemies have been vanquished or you are taking things easy.

– .. The work files can be presented as an opportunity to get you out of a jam without dying during the game, eg, it can appear across the room by a table and you get teleported to safety (of your work desktop) if you can reach the icon before getting fragged.

– .. You can specifically tag sections of your document so as to hint when or in what part of the game this section will be brought up somehow. This could be useful in anticipation that the work you are doing (and your state of mind) will gain from you getting inspired through what goes on in the game in that section. [or you wanted to be reminded to take notes at a particular point in the game].

– Allow one user to keep tabs on how a different user's game is going by allowing the other's game actions to be shown on your screen: either in a small Window; on a desktop background that lies underneath your regular wallpaper and which can be accessed by "ripping" part of the desktop off quickly with a mouse gesture; with flashes of the action covering your screen for a fraction of a second when the other achieves certain events (eg, frags an enemy or reaches a key point in the game)…

– Extend almost any existing open source application to work as follows. When used by a person, the actions are recorded and then translated into equivalent actions on some different but related application. This could be used as a great way to have a person expert with one application become expert in the second application. Eg, You open a menu, open a file, draw on it, add an effect, move objects around, add a bit of sound, add a macro, adjust the windows, save the workspace/files, etc, and then you go watch an animation of this same functionality being performed through the interface and mechanisms of this other application you are trying to learn. Now, you know how to perform these actions on this second application. You can effect this by adding a term to every single action/behavior on each application and then mapping. For applications that tend to have certain well-defined behaviors, you can first build an intermediate (canonical) representation of all behavior possible and then map every similar application to this IR. [Yes, this sounds an awful lot like compiler design.]

[10] — Click down the mouse button to graphically press a pin onto the existing document. Immediately the document disappears and is replaced by an icon of the document with the pin through it. You then move the mouse to move that icon on your desktop. When you release the mouse button the document icon will get pinned at that spot. Optionally, you can pick the color of the pin to match some metadata (eg, like the date or to set an alarm).