[Wolves] GPL, IP and patents..

[sparkes]

On Tue, 2004-01-20 at 12:21, Aquarius wrote:
> Matthew Revell spoo'd forth:
> > Yeah, but at the risk of offending lots of people (perhaps millions,
> > considering the Googling of the archive :) ), you can pretty much train
> > anyone to be a car mechanic. Using computers beyond the way I use my car
> > (i.e. an a to b machine, where the bonnet remains closed, unless I run out
> > of screenwash) takes something far more. 
> 
> I'm not sure how to put this politely, but: cobblers. :)
that was polite ;-)

> 
> I invite you to look under the bonnet of a BMW or something. Cars were
> easy to fix in 1961. Now it's all electronic this and engine management
> system that and whatever. 
even a simple car needs a full strip down to change the water pump or
something these days.  

I fix my own cars when I have the time cos it saves a fortune.  To get
at my water pump I had to remove the alternator, the power steering pump
and dozens of other smaller parts and large lumps of aluminium that put
it all together.  And this is a simple car.

If you had a problem with the ignition on Aq's car you would need to
take it to a main dealer cos only they have the electronics to really
test the bugger.  I have had this problem with performance cars (at
least ones that arn't common or garden) myself

Aq's suggestion that you look under the bonnet is a good one but a
quicker place you look would be on the dash.  It's not enough to service
a BMW you have to tell the electronics what you have done otherwise the
service light won't go off and the economy metre thing (or whatever it
is called) will still tell you your car is running badly.

> Your objection here may be: you never look (and
> never need to look) under the bonnet of your car. That's because you're
> a simple car driver who isn't interested in the technology; you just want
> to doa simple task (go from A to B) with the minimum of fuss. Apply that
> analogy to a majority of computer users, who just want to write a document,
> print it, and read their email and then shut the machine off. 
As thinkgeek has come up in this conversation before I think now is time
to look at the 'no I will not fix your computer' range made for the
friends of the majority of computer owning people

> Complexity,
> and interest, are where you find them, really.
If it's complex then it's interesting unless I don't start to see the
pattern within a couple of mins ;-)  ADHD ;-)

> 
> Aq.

sparkes