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I understand and sympathize with this point of view, but I have no idea how it would work out practically. Software patents are rightly criticized and I don't t
by LVB 11y ago
I understand and sympathize with this point of view, but I have no idea how it would work out practically. Software patents are rightly criticized and I don't think they should be the avenue to recapture investment. But if you also remove trade secrets, the dynamics behind expensive R&D would certainly be a lot different.
I used to work for a company that produced diesel engine. Trying to pass ever stringent emissions meant massive capital investment and millions of dollars in research and testing. The "secret sauce" ends up being a few thousand lines of code and lots of constants. It is literally the make-or-break factor in whether a manufacturer can sell a product or not. If all results had to be immediately shared, what happens to the competitive zeal?
My most optimistic perspective is that critical pieces of software just become common, with everyone latching onto the best option available. There is still plenty of room to differentiate, especially in something like a car, and that the sharing would be just generally beneficial.
But will the real breakthroughs still occur if there isn't the potential to be substantially better (and substantially rewarded) at some fundamental factor, like fuel efficiency?
- mahyarm 11y agoI'm surprised such a small amount of code hasn't been reversed engineered and the constants copied for millions of dollars of profit.
- IshKebab 11y agoThose magical constants would likely be specific to the engine though. I also think you're overstating how importnat these trade secrets are. If VW really had magical algorithms to reduce emmission they wouldn't have had to cheat.
- alkonaut 11y agoHopefully any system of "code inspection" could be done by authorities, and not require the code to be public. As an example: I'm not sure, but I believe the Nevada Gaming Control Board inspects the source code of gambling machines in Las Vegas casinos. This doesn't mean the casinos can't have secrets in the source code, it just means that the authority sees all the secrets. I do think however that "code inspection" for engine control units is a dead end. Writing underhanded code that appears to do X but instead does Y is so easy. (See e.g.http://www.underhanded-c.org/ http://www.underhanded-c.org/). Inspecting a 100k C-program for illegal behaviour won't be doable until the next years model is out, at which point it's time to start again. The solution is to treat the code as a black box, and just test it as a black by casting a wide net. The problem is the reliance on simple lab tests that are easily fooled.