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I don't think the Facebook concept is really something that is 'invented', per se. It is one of those kind of ideas that will emerge spontaneously at a certain

by DanI-S 16y ago

I don't think the Facebook concept is really something that is 'invented', per se. It is one of those kind of ideas that will emerge spontaneously at a certain point in the technological timeline, as the natural progression of things. It was Facebook's execution (as a product and a business) which raised it above the many similar services that appeared simultaneously.

chopsueyar 16y ago
Obviously Facebook believed something was 'invented', as Facebook bought patents from Friendster, and wanted to ensure Facebook would not have to license the Friendster patents they were violating. In your same manner of reasoning, h.264 was not invented, it simply emerged spontaneously at a certain point of the technological timeline, as the natural progression of things. I would argue it was facebook's reliance on open-source software and existing Friendster techniques (THAT WERE PATENTED BY FRIENDSTER), that allowed Facebook to succeed.
- DanI-S 16y ago
  I mentioned the Facebook concept. It was obviously a concept that occurred pretty much simultaneously to a whole bunch of people across the world. The same is true for h.264; it's a system for compressing video that is convenient for 21st century media. There are many, many variations on that same concept. It's the concept of 'multiple independent discovery' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery. Just because somebody got around to patenting a concept first doesn't mean that many others didn't think of it at the same time. You probably know how it is - many people have the seed of an idea, several will take it further than that, a handful might get to the stage of implementation - but only a couple will make it to the point of success.
  - chopsueyar 16y ago
    So the h.264 codec was obviously a concept that occurred pretty much simultaneously to a whole bunch of people across the world? Just because somebody got around to patenting a concept first doesn't mean that many others didn't think of it at the same time. Correct, however, the party that owns the patent, decides who can and cannot implement that concept in real life.

by DanI-S 16y ago

chopsueyar 16y ago

Obviously Facebook believed something was 'invented', as Facebook bought patents from Friendster, and wanted to ensure Facebook would not have to license the Friendster patents they were violating. In your same manner of reasoning, h.264 was not invented, it simply emerged spontaneously at a certain point of the technological timeline, as the natural progression of things. I would argue it was facebook's reliance on open-source software and existing Friendster techniques (THAT WERE PATENTED BY FRIENDSTER), that allowed Facebook to succeed.

DanI-S 16y ago
I mentioned the Facebook concept. It was obviously a concept that occurred pretty much simultaneously to a whole bunch of people across the world. The same is true for h.264; it's a system for compressing video that is convenient for 21st century media. There are many, many variations on that same concept. It's the concept of 'multiple independent discovery' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_discovery. Just because somebody got around to patenting a concept first doesn't mean that many others didn't think of it at the same time. You probably know how it is - many people have the seed of an idea, several will take it further than that, a handful might get to the stage of implementation - but only a couple will make it to the point of success.
- chopsueyar 16y ago
  So the h.264 codec was obviously a concept that occurred pretty much simultaneously to a whole bunch of people across the world? Just because somebody got around to patenting a concept first doesn't mean that many others didn't think of it at the same time. Correct, however, the party that owns the patent, decides who can and cannot implement that concept in real life.