12 Nov
1999
12 Nov
'99
12:14 p.m.
Check outghis article, it appears that somone recently
patented the
idea of using a pivot date, such as 30, and having the computer
consider numbers below that pivot point as being in the year 20??, ie
as being from 2000 - 2029. and he's trying to force companies that
used that programming technique to fix their Y2K problems, to pay him
millions. 70% of companies supposedly use that concept.
Just another argument for me to believe that no individual programming
techniques should be patentable, only total products... How many of
us have used that technique for years for things even before Y2K was
an issue?!
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '@' in place of '!' |
| 110 Spitbrook Rd. ZK03-2/T43 | URL: http://world.std.com/~mbg/ |
| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
| (603) 884 1055 | required." - mbg |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
12 Nov
12 Nov
2:17 p.m.
Check outghis article, it appears that somone
recently patented the
idea of using a pivot date, such as 30, and having the computer
consider numbers below that pivot point as being in the year 20??, ie
as being from 2000 - 2029. and he's trying to force companies that
used that programming technique to fix their Y2K problems, to pay him
millions. 70% of companies supposedly use that concept.
Just another argument for me to believe that no individual programming
techniques should be patentable, only total products... How many of
us have used that technique for years for things even before Y2K was
an issue?!
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
9172
days inactive
9172
days old
1 comments
2 participants
participants (2)
-
lemay＠cs.umn.edu -
mbg＠world.std.com