for the europeans:

[Mummu]

http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/

[Cantara]

Being europian kind of helps to read this too -

SOCIALISM:
You have 2 cows. Your neighbours help you to take care of them and you share the milk.

COMMUNISM:
You have 2 cows. The government takes both of them and provides you with milk.

FASCISM:
You have 2 cows. The militiamen confiscate them and shoot you.

NAZISM:
You have 2 cows. The government takes the fair-haired cow from you and kills the brown one.

DICTATORSHIP:
You have 2 cows. The government takes both of them and sells the milk to you.

DEMOCRACY:
You have 2 cows. A vote decides whom the milk belongs to.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY:
You have 2 cows. An election indicates the one who will decide whom the milk belongs to.

SINGAPORE DEMOCRACY:
You have 2 cows. You get a fine for keeping cattle in apartment.

ANARCHY:
You have 2 cows. You let them be milked in self-management.

CAPITALISM:
You have 2 cows. You sell one of them, and you buy one bull to make calves.

WILD CAPITALISM:
You have 2 cows. You sell one and you force the other to produce like four, and you fire the workman who took care of them saying he is useless.

ECOLOGY:
You have 2 cows. You keep the milk and the government buys the dung.

FEMINISM:
You have 2 cows. The government imposes a fine for discrimination to you. You exchange one of your cows for a bull that you milk too.

SURREALISM:
You have 2 cows. The government requires that you give them lessons of harmonica.

EUROPEAN CAPITALISM:
You are subsidized the first year to buy a third cow. The quotas are fixed in the second year and you pay a fine for overproduction. You are given a premium in the third year to kill the third cow.

BRITISH CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY:
You kill one of the cows to feed the other. The remaining cow becomes insane. Europe subsidizes you to kill it. You give it to feed your subjects.

CORSICA MODE:
You have two pigs that wander in the forest. You declare 200 cows and you touch the European subsidies.

FRENCHSTYLE CAPITALISM:
To finance the retirement of your cows, the government decides to raise a new tax: the SSCSFA (Social Security Contribution of Solidarity with our Friends the Animals). Two years after, like France recovered a part of the British livestock, the system is overdrawn. To finance the deficit a new tax on the production of milk is raised: the RAB (Refunding of the Bovine Bill). The cows put themselves in strike. There is no more milk. The French are in the street: "MILK, WE WANT MILK!�. France builds a milkyduct under the Channel to stock up from the British. Europe declares British milk unsuitable for consumption. A new tax is raised to maintain the milkyduct that has become useless

[Oddysee]

The supreme judge who's gonna decide weather Microsoft is exploiting it's monopoly in Europe is danish... God I hope he says they're not.
If Microsoft is accused of exploiting the free market of Europe, they will change, due to the impact of the European consumer base. This will mean all new versions of Microsoft will NOT include Media player. It will be effective as of 4 weeks after the decree is passed.

The idea is, that including Microsoft Media Player with Windows is a violation of the free market of Europe. Since 95% of the worlds computers run on Microsoft, including wmp, in the start up ties it too closely to the system. It even uses the same interfase. So, no outsiders can compete with it, and therefore Microsoft own the market... This is of course, total and utter bollocks!

People who want a diff player will go get one regardless. People who wouldn't before wont now either. They neverneeded it. All this means is that we now have to pay for YET ANOTHER function of our already over prised PC's.
They say they're doing it in order to make sure the consumers rights are not violated and no monopoly is made. Free market for anyone who wishes to compete and equal opportunity for all... To hell with that! Capitalism is the ONLY way. Period. Without it, we wouldn't know Coca Cola, Nike, Adidas, Ferari, G-Force or any other label. They'd all be local area only. It's not free market to demand that when ever someone has a bright idea, they tell everyone else, so they can compete. No, if you get a good idea, good for you, now cash in on it!

Survival of the fittest, not the fattest. These rules were only made because people are so afraid to watch others enjoy while they get none.

If this law is passed, it's gonna be dark times for PC users. Even if you didn't use wmp, it was a rather nice tool to have. Removing it solves nothing. All it does is add a price tag to it. Bloody ignorant idiots!

I'm not pro patency and such, but this is taking it the other direction to a ridiculous degree. *le sigh*




Tm

[Mummu]

uhm why you just changed the topic, oddy?
software patents have nothing to do with microsof using its monopol.
its going in a similar direction but to an extend that is not good.
if you patent a sofware solution no one will be ALLOWED to compete.
to change the fact tat no one is ABLE to compete with wmp is too old to be changed.

[Oddysee]

I know, I know, it was just on the headlines yesterday, the decree is made wednesday... I just remembered and found it a lil' scary... Sorry for thread jackin'...




Tm

[epiphonic]

honestly i cant stand the idea of having to settle for powerdvd or other programs with the "capability" of playing those formats ( and come free only with new dvd drives) which wmp provides support for, and as much as i hate saying it, wmp is pretty damn intact.

however, i HAVE had great luck with winamp in this sense. hmmmm....