- From: Robin Mead <robin@MoonGroup.com>
- Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 18:04:03 -0400
- To: <www-patentpolicy-comment@w3.org>
I am appalled by yet another political/corporate legalistic ploy to literally destroy the open market! That's right, I said destroy the open market!!! Shame on the all of you who took your precious time in this world to pen this double-speak. Obviously, you feel no pride in your own obtuse and little known "Recommendation" already in "Working Draft" progress. If you had, you wouldn't have felt the need to try and bury it. Nor, would you have skipped your own outline of how a Recommendation comes about. The whole thing smells bad. I admit I walk around in a mostly near-sighted fashion, based on personal priorities but, not even I am this myopic and I'm not alone. Many others, have a clear understanding of what a monopoly is and what kind of damage a monopoly can do and has done to not only small businesses but, large corporations, as well as national and international finances. And you would put supposedly neutral standards into their hands? Let me begin with some corporate monopoly realities and why we must do everything in our power to keep the balance and NEVER allow the "Standards" to be a purchased item. So far, the Software Industry and much of the Hardware Industry has avoided Unionization via corporate perks and this has allowed them to become a monstrously huge monopoly. But, I'm guessing when the workers finally wake up and realize they have to sell their sealy-posture-pedics just to survive, they'll want a Union and the Union WILL come in. One begins to see a strange analogy between "The Matrix" and the way large corporations of today operate. When you are the only business in town or the biggest business, it begins not to matter what you do. Large businesses tend to think anything and everything can be bought for a price, including you and your rights. Allowing them to control any standards is like giving them your life! There will come a time when who, other than they, will be able to meet the standards that they write? Is that what you worked so hard for all of your life? Is this going to make it easier for your children to succeed or compete? So many of us have worked countless hours of overtime w/o seeing a dime for it, eating corporate pizza on Friday nights, thinking it was steak. Well, I'm here to tell you that this is not the way it's going to be! Maybe you'll get away with this "Standardization" now, and if you do, shame on the W3C for allowing you to do so but, in the long run, you will be absolutely killing your own R&D, along with everybody elses, by backing up the already poor patent laws you helped create. You know innovation employs the consumer and you want to rule innovation! Innovation comes from competition. Innovation raises it's little head in the most un-corporate and inconvienient places. Innovation comes from need. Innovation comes from having the freedom to think, utilize and build upon the knowledge of countless others who have come before you. It comes from sharing knowledge. In this country, you don't have to be associated with a large corporation or have a degree from MIT to come up with a great idea and implement it. Why are you working so hard to change that? Would you widen the gap and the chances between the haves and the havenots? Do you know one of the reasons why America is great? America is great because an employee is free to work at one corporation and then turn around and work for the competition without skipping a beat. That employee brings his knowledge with him and nobody can take that away. The new company may gain from the previous company's instruction and OJT but, the door swings both ways. Everybody gains from the swinging door arrangement. Still, some would say this is bad for business. (What the large corporations of today desire so badly is a door that swings one way only, their way.) Bad for business? Why, it's one of the founding principles of the Open Market. It is the very thing that helped to create these very same large corporations who are now, through passing things like the DMCA, CTEA and this RAND, are dead set at destroying YOUR rights. All in order to keep YOU from becoming their competition. But hey, if you think you'd like to try and swallow down some Microsoft bread along with your Microsoft water while you read your Microsoft news please, let this bad license model (i.e. the RAND model) based on bad patent laws slip by. Why support an "Open Market" as opposed to a "Monopoly"? Obviously, the Open Market spurs inovation and invention but, looking back at history tells the real story. Back in the '30s through the '60s, when England favored the Apprenticeship plan over the Open Market scenerio. It was their thought the employee would work at the same job, for the same business, for the rest of his working life. But, if that worker were to quit his position or be fired or, even laid off , he would not be able to find gainful employment in that field again because he had signed his loyalty over to one company. He would be drummed out of the business. The thought was the employee would give all the business secrets away if he worked for someone else. Thus, he would be doomed to find another vocation. Innovation was absolutely stagnant! England was in a world of hurt. If we support monopolies, we will find ourselves in the very same situation as the afore mentioned apprentice but for slightly different reasons. Aside from the above, monopolies get away with corporate immoralities because they can (i.e. long hours w/o pay for hourly employees, firing employees w/o explanation, hiring of family members, favoritism, overseas sweatshops, pollution, some things we would never stand for if we had any say in it etc...) Isn't it hard enough to make a living as it is? That's why I say, one of these days, the Union or, the Labor Force if you prefer, is going to come strolling along and they are going to be knocking loudly at your corporate monopoly, profit gouging door. Like it or not, they are going to be your new partner/s. They are going to tell you what you can and can not do in your own corporation, not to torture you but because you could not run a business with any sort of business ethic or morality yourselves. Because you thought of nothing more than the bottom line, as opposed to the future. It will not matter where you go on this planet, you will be held responsible. Why? Because you are trying to control the standards, the source and all innovation. And quite frankly, there are some things big money and political clout can't control, for long anyway. -- rem
Received on Sunday, 30 September 2001 17:59:55 UTC