Posts by jake

Re: Crazy

"There is definitely a need to review and remove all the stupid patents and trademarks"

This is true. The USPTO is in serious need of repair, for a LOT of reasons.

"so that the rest of the world can get on with its business."

Perhaps, if your business involves getting Spring to print t-shirts for you. May I suggest an alternative vendor for your shirts? There is nothing in Law stopping you from getting them printed, just in Spring's brain-dead handling of the issue.

Re: To someone from UK

I think someone from the UK should re-read TFA, this time for content.

So get back at 'em.

Block go ogle (and the rest of alphagoo). Works for me :-)

Re: Try one of those Cyrillic 'e's

Good luck with that!

Can't even convince the computer illiterate around here that"jake" and "Jake" are two completely different handles!

Re: We need an Alpha wolf

Oh, gawd/ess ... don't bring the furries into it. We've (TINW) got enough problems around here.

Re: Oi - Merkins

We did that one already. But thanks for playing.

Re: Oi - Merkins

"America was our side of the pond"

I think the French and the Spanish would take issue with that statement.

Re: Oi - Merkins

It's not Cockney, it's Aussie.

You should see the last few years of news from the UK from this side ...

_{Insert pithy words about glass houses & stones here.}

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Beta Testing? In this modern DevOps world? Shirley you jest!

Re: Don't think iSmash (chain of phone repair shops in England) is owned by Apple.

"Did you see what they did there?"

Hard to miss it ... My neighbor's new twin sprog sport these occasionally:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/222473404073?hash=item33cc72bea9:g:GIUAAOSwB21c8sMS

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/264481022088?hash=item3d944c2088:g:oFUAAOSwF2hcnrSN

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Fortunately for TOA, "a reasonable person[0]" would know the comment was facetious.

[0] Now if we can only find "a reasonable person".

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

D. In drastic need of a humo(u)r transplant.

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Again, who said anything about age? The question was if there was "anything that is more public domain than the Greek alphabet".

English is seen in more places than Greek, world-wide, without any compensation going to the authors. Ergo ...

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Why do you think it's inevitable? Sensible t-shirt printers don't filter on single words (much less letters) ... or if they do, they at least have a cognizant human vet the results so as not to lose business.

As for your alternative, screen printing your own shirts is quite doable in a spare bedroom/garage. It's actually quite profitable. Why do you think there are so many small companies doing it?

"Nonsense! Spring is an open-source RTS game engine!"

And I have one on my gate to prove it!

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

"The Runic Futhorc was Scandinavian in origin"

No it wasn't, it was Frisian (or possibly originally from a trifle further inland).

Re: Disgrace

The USPTO is indeed in a shambles, but has nothing to do with this story.

"I think they're taking themselves too seriously."

They do. And they prove it by drinking entirely too much, puking out of the upstairs windows, and then falling down the stairs and puking some more all over the front lawn.

As Groucho Marx wrote in a telegram resigning from the Delaney Club "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER."

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Futhorc was Frisian (probably, although it may have developed inland from there).

The closest equivalent in Old English was the ever-so-logical "stæfræw" (row of letters) or "stæfrof" (array of letters).

The Irish Monks brought the Latin "alphabetum" over long before 1475, although I cannot find an exact date ... certainly by the foundation of Iona in 563.

Alphabetum, futhorc and stæfræw/stæfrof were used concurrently for around 600 years.

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Might want to let your lawyers know that my lawyers know the meaning of barratry.

_{There's a song in there somewhere ... I'm surprised Zappa didn't write it.}

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

Who said anything about age?

Re: Oi - Merkins

I'm fairly certain the concept goes back to before the Old Kingdom of Egypt.

Re: What about π ?

Depends. Are you planning on having Spring print it on a T-shirt?

_{Make mine apple (or does a certain Cupertino company have a trademark?).}

Re: We need an Alpha wolf

I don't think that means quite what you think it means.

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

"I'd have taken my business to another T-shirt shop, rather than capitulate."

YES! When you see this kind of stupidity, vote with your wallet. I usually drop them an email and/or a good, old fashioned telephone call explaining why they did not get my business.

Re: "The Greek alphabet is currently protected legally"

"I'm sorry, if there is anything that is more public domain than the Greek alphabet, please inform me."

The English alphabet comes to mind ...

Re: Oi - Merkins

"Leftpondians" works, just remember that Canada is up there, too. "Yanks" is acceptable ... most of us Yanks don't take umbrage over that particular naming accident of history.

Re: Oi - Merkins

A Brit telling another country to stick to their own side of the pond? That's rich.

_{It's not us boasting about the sun never setting & etc.}

Re: That was fast

"but does appear to work as it is supposed to."

"Supposed to" is relative. According to who? Microsoft's financial department? Their advertising department? Their "collect as much info about the users as possible" department?

It certainly doesn't work the way I think an OS is supposed to work ...

Re: Is Windows 10 the new xp?

My one remaining Redmond computer runs Win2K, which is in my mind peak Microsoft.

The only reason I run it is because I used AutoCAD2K to document this place and a couple others, and have seen no need to "upgrade" ... like Win2K, ACAD2K is peak AutoDesk. On the rare occasion that I need it, the twenty year old box runs LibreOffice adequately.

The system is airgapped.

I know of several other businesses that keep Win2K around for various reasons.

Re: Eh?

A lot of my day-to-day business is easily handled by a near 18 tear old HP laptop running Slackware-current and the recent LibreOffice. The rest is run from a similar era desktop. Neither machine has ever given me any trouble.

To you nay-sayers: How much money has running Redmond products cost you in the last nearly twenty years? Make sure you include the cost of waiting on updates, recovering from crashes, unnecessary reboots, hardware upgrades (or replacements) when MS rolls a rev., malware problems, and all the other bits and bobs that waste your time and money.

It continues to amaze me that the Corporate World still lets the thing in the door ...

Re: Opting out -- meaning keeping Windows 10

Why do you think your music "requires" Windows? I have no issues[0] with music on Linux (including production), and haven't for a long time now.

[0] Other than the underlying code being aesthetically ugly ... if we ever have the time, my daughter and I might make it our job to pretty it up a bit as a learning tool for her daughter.

Re: How do I opt users out of this "upgrade" ?

It is actually far more than 100% of what anyone needs, if you look at it objectively.

Note that the keyword there is "needs".

Re: How do I opt users out of this "upgrade" ?

"Now to install MS Office all the software that actual businesses use to actually run"

None of the businesses I consult for run MS-anything. Why do you think MS is necessary, when it is quite clear that reality says otherwise? Is it a religious thing for you?

"(and maybe a few recent games)"

Playing games at work? You're fired.

How do I opt users out of this "upgrade" ?

Install a FOSS OS. It works for me & mine (including corporate).

Note that Linux and BSD aren't the only options, I have quite a few people running Minix.

Re: Red dress?

I think you underestimate the numbers ... it's more like a whole lotta-lotta people.

Re: Red dress?

PJ's site is archived at groklaw.net

Wiki (which I try not to cite for what should be obvious reasons) has a pretty good overview of groklaw's history. Worth a read.

Re: Pipes

Actually, while Dartmouth was first with the concept, the UNIX version was implemented independently. Lochner snd McIlroy are considered by most authors to be co-inventors.

_{Does this mean I should be getting residuals for my work on Berkeley Sockets?}

Re: The industry sucks

With me, the black Levis are a hair tighter than the blue (pre-shrunk 501s). So I usually get the original shrink-to-fit variation ... which incidentally seem to last a trifle longer than the pre-shrunk ones, and are a hair cheaper. Win-win.

Don't forget shoes ... Different manufacturers use different sized lasts. And plants on different continents belonging to the same manufacturer also seem to use different sized lasts. The only good way to purchase shoes is to physically try them on.

Last time I bought "walking the dawgs" shoes, I tried on four identically labeled pairs. One pair was too small, one too big, and two fit. I bought the two. They were made in Mexico, the large pair was made in Malaysia, and the small pair was made in Taiwan. Caveat emptor.

Re: breaking the calculator app

I wonder how many El Reg commentards still have an RPN calculator in/on their desk, and still use it. Mine's an HP-45, my birthday present to me in 1974 ... The HP-35 also still works, but is stored under glass sans batteries (Dad's gift to me, Xmas '72 ... one of the few bits of hardware I treasure).