MS Calls On Kids to Stop Thought Thieves 709
theodp writes "Microsoft is calling all UK kids aged 14-17 to enter its Thought Thieves Competition. Remember kids, finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft. And don't forget to download your free Thought Thieves Poster!"
Oh get to the youth. (Score:5, Informative)
Just took 20 years longer than 1984.
Re:Ah, to be a 14-17 year old British boy (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Screw a PDF (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Obligatory Orwell (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Hoax? (Score:5, Informative)
Screw another PDF (the first one) (Score:3, Informative)
sorry to respond to my own post
but yeah, I really hate pdf for tiny stuff like this
--
Fairfax Underground [fairfaxunderground.com]: Fairfax County, VA public message board
Re:Microsoft Propaganda Art (Score:3, Informative)
What really happens in a UK university is that someone with broadband downloads a torrent of it and gives copies to anyone who wants one. No student in their right mind would actually buy it - it's (still) too bloody expensive. I would imagine it's similar in the US.
Re:Some advice (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30
One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.
Asked whether the press enjoys "too much freedom," not enough or about the right amount, 32% say "too much," and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.
The survey of First Amendment rights was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last spring by the University of Connecticut. It also questioned 327 principals and 7,889 teachers.
Re:I'm speechless. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Newton (Score:4, Informative)
Google for that quote... true or not, there is a fairly widespread allegation that it was sarcastic, used in a letter to a bitter rival.
It's funny you should mention Newton's statement as being positive. I'm currently reading "Science: A History 1534-2001" by John Gribbin which suggests that his comment was in fact a barely disguised personal attack. It written in a letter to a scientific competitor, Robert Hooke, who had complained, correctly, that Newton was not giving him proper credit for his discoveries. Newton's response that he had seen further by "standing on the shoulders of Giants" was intended to rule out Hooke, who was famously short and hunchbacked. This is not 100% accepted history but it does seem to fit in with Newton's general demenour and behaviour.
Apparently other people said it before Newton if you want to quote someone who actually meant it.
Re:Copyright Infringement Is Not Theft (Score:2, Informative)
Nothing of the sort. If you are faced with an attack by an enemy, you fight back by counter-attacking forcibly not by laying down and moaning. GPL forces people who choose to use GPL (most anti-GPL wackos seem to forget that GPL is not mandatory) to counter-act efforts by corporatists to use copyright as a restrictive device. That is, you restrict the restriction in order to negate it. In that sense, GPL does force things which go beyond "copyright-free" scenario, but they would no longer be needed should copyright be abolished.
Think a freedom fighter who picks up his opressor's gun to fight back. Should the occupying force withdraw, the violence of the gun is no longer needed and he can go back to growing rice in peace.
Re:Contest over (Score:5, Informative)
Apple paid to be "inspired" by the xerox GUI [mackido.com]
You would be thoughtless. (Score:3, Informative)
It leads to cebreral pralysis.
Its is not sustainable.
It is not implementable.
It is not workable.
The entire civilization, the species, possibly all life, is based on sharing.
The "commons" form of intellectual sharing merely asks that you acknowledge the sources of your knowledge. That is called being a knowledgable and erudite human being.
Microsofts' form of 'pay for use' of an idea IMMEDIATLY put at any one who is not as 'rich' as a Bill Gates at a disadvatage.
Not only are they incapable of 'paying the tithe' but, due to the transfer of intellectual property outside its natural boundaries, they may end up not even knowing who to pay it to.
I would imagine that the 'concept' of "gravity" as a force of nature is copyrightable. I would also imagine that the concept that "The Earth Sucks" is also copyrightable.
That means that I would stand to make some money every time something tipped over.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to collect, am I still owed?
Of course the ability to use speech is owed to the original speakers but since they we'ren't as smart as Microsoft, they aren't going to collect a single dollar from the idea.
Re:Sort of relevant, but wrong (Score:5, Informative)
Bill Gates is pretty much admitting to 'Thought Theft' there: Microsoft wouldn't even have their flagship product line if they hadn't taken the idea of the GUI from Xerox and Apple.
I guess these days, Microsoft is Xerox, and some darn kids are nicking their TV now.
Re:Screw another PDF (the first one) (Score:3, Informative)
They've got a jpeg thumbnail. The PDF is supposed to be for printing. Unfortunately, the PDF is just a jpeg image ; the line art and fonts are all rendered at fixed resolution, so they loss all the benefits of the PDF format (smooth scalable graphics and type). It's a little odd to see MS using PDF format, but at least they didn't put it a BMP.
This was in yesterday's NTK... (Score:3, Informative)
What MicroSoft is looking for.... (Score:3, Informative)
Its widely accepted by those in the know that young people are more daring and creative and as such old Bill Gates is of course looking for solutions regarding intellectual property and software patents.
Its a dual edge sword, they want both to know how to better get away with the works of others while also wanting to better know how to protect what they have stolen, from other taking it back.
They are looking for excuses to continue their criminal activity...
AND WE ALL KNOW THAT!!
There is NO indication MS is ever going to change their criminal anti-competitive behavor.
That is a wiorth while thing to keep in mind with anything MS does..... including this...
Re:Budget (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Screw a PDF (Score:2, Informative)
The style and typography of the Thought Thieves poster appears to have been completely copied from the typography used on the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (UK edition) books.
Surely not much of an example to set.
Regards
Kabz
Re:I'm speechless. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Screw a PDF (Score:3, Informative)
They did have a patent. IIRC though it was for their hardware dongle that increased the amount of compression in some way. Don't know if it was on the software. In either event, having a patent still doesn't help you when large companies are able to hold it up for years while you hemorage funds to the blood sucking attornies.
"Maybe there's something to this whole idea of patenting software after all. Sure, the way software patents are being used now is ridiculous, but that doesn't mean the entire concept is rotten."
No, the whole concept IS rotten. It prevents anyone from even entering a market. Eventually everyone looses including Microsoft. I'm just waiting for the great patent wars...Popcorn anyone?
B.
Re:I'm speechless. (Score:2, Informative)
In the tradition of
?
Here's some enlightenment:
"I developed Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."
AND
"I seeded Godwin's Law in any newsgroup or topic where I saw a gratuitous Nazi reference."
Hiel Herr!
Wikipedia (Score:1, Informative)
Microsoft is sponsoring a Thought Thieves competition for short films on the theme of "How intellectual property theft affects both individuals and society'."
Finalists must agree to formally license all intellectual property rights in their film on terms acceptable to Microsoft.
"Thought thief" is also a reference to the book 1984 and the Orwellian notion of thought police "stolen" by Microsoft from Orwell for this richly ironic competition.
In George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labelling unapproved thoughts with the term thoughtcrime or, in Newspeak, "crimethink".
Microsoft as a "thought theif"
* Apple Computer accused Microsoft of stealing QuickTime code and using it in Windows Media Player.
* Burst.com claims that Microsoft stole Burst's patented technology for delivering high speed streaming sound and video content on the internet.
* Sendo accused Microsoft of terminating their partnership so it could steal Sendo's technology to use in Windows Smartphone 2002.
* Spyglass licensed its browser to Microsoft in return for a percentage of each sale; Microsoft turned the browser into Internet Explorer and bundled it with Windows; Spyglass sued for deception.
* Stac Electronics accused Microsoft of stealing its data compression code and using it in MS-DOS 6.
* Sun Microsystems held Microsoft in violation of contract for including a modified version of Java in Microsoft Windows; Microsoft responded by abandoning Jav