[OT] Microsoft filled patent applications for scoped and immutable types

[Chris via Digitalmars-d]

On Friday, 29 August 2014 at 12:27:59 UTC, Iain Buclaw via 
Digitalmars-d wrote:
> On 29 August 2014 10:32, Chris via Digitalmars-d
> <digitalmars-d at puremagic.com> wrote:
>>> In fact, the patent looks like an explanation of how 
>>> immutability works in
>>> D.
>>
>>
>> This is why I don't believe in "coincidence". This could be 
>> either an
>> attempt to crush D or some people might have realized that D's 
>> way of
>> handling immutability is the way to go and they want to own it 
>> (or both).
>> Where I'm from this is called "rip-off", "theft" or just 
>> "being a c**t".
>>
>
> This is just FUD.

Nevertheless, it should be taken seriously. Dismissing it as 
irrelevant could be a terrible mistake. Better safe than sorry.

Big companies go to the rain forests in Latin America to get a 
patent on herbs and plants used as medicine, only to sue the 
medicine men who've been using the same herbs and plants for 
thousands of years. Speaking of not wanting to live on this 
planet anymore ...

> Software patents in practice are now not only of generally poor
> quality, they are totally opposed to their original reason for
> existence.
>
>>From my observation (newspapers, mostly), having a software 
>>patent is
> utterly useless, and not being tied to any particular network or
> device just doesn't hold water nowadays in court (in varying 
> degrees
> across countries).
>
> Iain

I hope you're right.