RE: [xml-dev] Yahoo! Tech article on injunction against MS Word

["Len Bullard" <cbullard@hiwaay.net>]

The sad thing is that sooner or later, there won't be enough of us who
remember the early SGML systems well enough to point to prior art.  That's
why I think markets interested in their longevity should fix their IP
problems early.   Again, had we done that for the various SGML systems it is
possible some of this wouldn't be going on.  Another opinion is had we done
that, HTML might never have been borne. 

What would the web look like without markup?

It's a fun what if.  Content of course.  Still, had IBM patented GML and GML
technologies, the web would be a different design unless one believes markup
isn't necessary to the web architecture or that it's design is that
influential to the emergence of the web.

len

-----Original Message-----
From: Amelia A Lewis [mailto:amyzing@talsever.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:44 PM
To: Len Bullard
Cc: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: RE: [xml-dev] Yahoo! Tech article on injunction against MS Word

On Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:41:13 -0500, Len Bullard wrote:
> We really need to find a copy of the SGML systems still extant.  One gets
> tired of the patent disputes.  We depend too much on the web for resources
> and forget the design history of our technology predates the web.

Uh.  Probably something that needs to be done; possibly true that folks 
forget.

Relevant to the current case?  Doubtful.  It's the eastern district of 
Texas.  You could patent ice cream there.  Or bread.  When judges in 
appeals circuits start making jokes from the bench (they have), 
credibility of such cases, regardless of merits, drops to nil.

Amy!
-- 
Amelia A. Lewis                    amyzing {at} talsever.com
Money can't buy happiness, but poverty can't buy *anything*.