[mythtv-users] Tivo suing everyone in sight over DVR patents

[jedi]

On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 02:31:06PM -0700, Ryan Allen wrote:
> * jedi <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote on [08-27-09y 14:25]:
> > On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 11:39:21AM -0400, Ronald Frazier wrote:
> > > > Tivo business model: Take other people's work, hire lawyers, find loophole,
> > > > profit.
> > > 
> > > Care to elaborate on this? Because I have no idea what you are
> > > referring to. And if you are going to talk about using GPL'd linux,
> > > let me preemptively cut you off (Linus has said he see's nothing wrong
> > > with what TiVo has done).
> > 
> > Tivo is pretty much taking credit for what general purpose computers
> > do by design. The fact that an actual Tivo is little more than a PPC
> > Linux PC with a really slow processor and a specialized PCI card makes
> > their whole shenigan really troubling.
> > 
> > We might find ourselves on the business end of the slippery slope.
> 
> And the guy that patented the slurpee straw?  All he did was cut a slit
> in the end of a straw and retired very rich.
> 
> Transparency in engineering is not a disqualification of a good business
> model.  
> 
> Regardless, to 99% of the population, they don't care if it's PPC with PCI
> or a MIPS driving RLL bus.  To 99% of the population the engineering is
> not transparent.
> 
> Ultimately, the consumer will decide if its a good idea.

Patent shenanigans short curcuit all of that. That's rather the problem.