The Madness of Software Patents ⓢ

by Christopher Paul on August 22, 2012

When I started reading this guest post/email on Brad Feld’s website, I thought a particular line would be a good quote for a quick post. As I read further, I found another. And another. And a few more.

So my quick one or two line quote is turning into a message to just read the whole thing. Bring some tissues with you, though. It’s atrocious that people have to live with patent trolls. Just in case you don’t want to be bothered, here are some highlights:

Every three hours of legal advice costs the same as an on-shore customer service representative with benefits for a week.

A full legal defense could be my entire future Series A. And who is going to invest in that round when use of funds says “litigation”?

If your startup hasn’t been sued yet, don’t worry. You will.

I could copy and paste the whole thing.

Zero Leads After NYPD Spent Years Spying On Muslims ⓢ

by Christopher Paul on August 21, 2012

Mike Masnick of TechDirt in response to the news that the NYPD hasn’t started a single investigation after years of ethnic and religious profiling:

“I know this is a crazy thought, but perhaps violating the privacy of tons of people just because of the color of their skin or their religion, isn’t the best (or even “a”) way to stop terrorists.”

Crazy, indeed.

Revolutionary User Interfaces ⓢ

by Christopher Paul on August 21, 2012

A look back at interface design over the past 400-odd years. It’s amazing how far we’ve progressed in such a short time and yet I feel as if we’re close but still not there yet.

via The Loop

Great Software Masks Its Complexity ⓢ

by Christopher Paul on August 20, 2012

Josh Lehman:

”Great software masks its complexity. It works like magic. The customer is not likely to make note of the craftsmanship involved in your app mainly because the bulk of the craftsmanship lies deep below the visual layer.”

This idea doesn’t get discussed enough. Design matters.

h/t DF

Google’s M.A.D. Patent Attack on Apple ⓢ

by Christopher Paul on August 20, 2012

Ben Brooks commenting on Google suing Apple for patent infringement:

“What if in September Apple takes the stage, announces a new iPhone and iPad — says it is available today — just so long as you aren’t in the U.S., because in the U.S. Google has stopped Apple from being able to sell these devices to you. I can’t see that being a winning scenario for Google at all.”

I’d love to see someone – anyone – say that. Even Samsung in their fight with Apple. As much as I love Apple, I don’t love patent fights – even from them. It’s not a road anyone should want to go down but if you start to walk along that path, it’s easy to slip and find your self on the receiving end of bad publicity.

None of the companies involved will real stand to gain much. In fact, I can’t see this as a win for anyone. Apple and Google spend millions, innovation gets stifled, and users (from both sides) get screwed. It’s M.A.D.

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