[Patents] Patent system run for consumers or producers?

[Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com]

>... I can't see how anyone could seriously attempt to negate the
>... suffering that software users are undergoing.

People with AIDS suffer.
People in poverty suffer.
People in warzones suffer.
People discriminated against suffer.

Because of (bad) software patents, software users are at best
inconvenienced.  But suffer?  Homeless people suffer.  Not software
users.  If you continue to use the word "suffer" in this context,
you will turn away potential supporters.

Look at the example you used - the extra labor you have to put in
to freely download EPO images in GIF format.  If that is suffering,
than I am very jealous of you, because you must live the very good
life that having to hack a few extra lines of code to get around
Unisys' GIF patent is causing you to suffer.  This is not suffering.

I don't deny (bad) software patents can cause disruptions.  As you
will find out soon (to be announced in PATNEWS), I have personally
experienced a loss financially due to a BAD software patent.  But
never in a million years would I claim to be suffering.

Choose another word, like "disruption".  But not "suffer" - it
is too emotionally laden that is incongrous in the patent context.

Greg Aharonian