5 ms·
Software Firms Overwhelmingly Against Patents
- smanek 16y agoTo be fair, software firms are also overwhelmingly in favor of each Fortune 500 being liquidated, and the proceeds being evenly distributed to the remaining software firms.
- lsb 16y agoI'm not so sure. Heck, there was pretty mixed reaction to 0% cap gains taxes yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1555363 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1555363
- baguasquirrel 16y agoThe nice thing about this is that it establishes what we all knew was true. What would be interesting to know is what the big players' position on patents are. There certainly aren't several hundred "largest" tech firms by definition (or you'd dilute the definition of "largest"). For example, I don't know a single Google engineer who is for patents, and the official Google line calls for "reform" of the system. Meanwhile, Microsoft's position is mum, and the #4 search on "microsoft position patents" is a 37signals article on how they trolled Salesforce. It would be interesting if someone did a quantitative analysis of the big firms, say, the top 20. Slot each one depending on their public position on patents (if any), whether they have trolled other firms, etc., and basically decide if they are pro/con on the issue. Then give them a "vote" weighted by their market cap. It would also be useful to see the combined market of however many firms are included, compared to the software industry as a whole.