From Luuk.van.Dijk@xs4all.nl  Fri Jan 26 15:22:09 2001
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 16:22:09 +0100
From: Luuk van Dijk Luuk.van.Dijk@xs4all.nl
Subject: [Patents] A shareholders viewpoint

"Nick F." wrote:

> What this means is that to attract investment, companies
> often protect their businesses with patents. As Greg
> will probably remind us later - shareholders see software
> as just another industry to invest in.

<rant>
Although it is economically defensible, one does get a bad
taste in one's mouth when it turns out that the farmaceutical
industry spends as much money on marketing as on research.

Apparently then , the marketing spendings do not have to be 
'protected' by special laws.

It also supports another thesis I like to pose here: Because
it is always cheaper to find stupider customers than to improve
your product, innovation will always receive less priority than
marketing.  ;-^
</rant>

Now let's focus on winnable arguments again.

Luuk

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Mind over Matter         Mind.over.Matter@xs4all.nl
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