aaron said:
>   Wow! 
>   That is the dumbest economic theory
>   I have ever heard in my life!

then do i get some kind of prize?        :+)


>   A company is going to spend money on
>   a bunch of lawyers that they don't need,
>   and pay for a bunch of licences that have
>   no legal standing, and some how this will
>   magically legitimize the thing which they are
>   paying for in the first place?  Yep.  Sure. 
>   Makes plenty of sense to me.

well, they won't pay for "licenses that have
no legal standing", and no, microsoft is _not_
spending money on "a bunch of lawyers that
they don't need", because they _do_ need 'em.
and once they've got them, they'll put 'em to use.

but otherwise, you've pretty much got it all right.

a company with "more lawyers than a small country"
_wants_ everything -- _everything_ -- to become
a matter falling in the purview of the legal system.
(and their lawyers are all to happy to make it happen.)


>   No news there.  Companies have been
>   doing this for years and years.

actually, it _did_ make the news when bill gates
recently announced this as a goal for his company.

and sure enough, the number of patent applications
that microsoft has made lately has escalated greatly.

maybe bill wasn't the first to do it.  he very rarely is.
but you can bet he will be the richest.  he usually is...


>   It makes sense.  Business isn't about competition
>   and making money, it's about protecting your competitors.

making money _is_ about protecting yourself from competitors.

and maybe you can't eliminate the ones who are as big as you,
but you can most certainly strangle all the little ones in the crib.

and those the competitors who are as big as you are?  you'll find
they're on the other side of the crib, willing to strangle with you...

you don't think the big auto companies, for example, work together?
sure, they compete on the salesroom floors.  but when it comes to
things like lobbying -- you know, the _important_ stuff -- they are
best buddies.  but an upstart car company, one making, let's say,
a more-efficient electric car?  it'd be promptly squashed like a bug...


>   Couching 9th grade conspiracy theories
>   between statements of fact which is
>   apparent to everyone
>   doesn't make them any less ridiculous.

marcello just pegged me as a 5-year-old.
now you have promoted me to 9th grade.
i must be the only 5-year-old in the 9th grade.

the one thing all of you seem incapable of doing
is to ignore me.  well, maybe there are two things,
since y'all have a hard time staying on-topic too...

***

hey look!  there's a shiny test-suite, available now!
>   http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/bowerbird/test-suite/test-suite.zml
>   http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/bowerbird/test-suite/test-suite.html

it purports to contain the range of features in the p.g. library!
do you see any shortcomings in it?  what would you include?

-bowerbird