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Software Patents Programming IT Technology

Is The Lone Coder Dead? 809

CyNRG writes "The little guy. The one-person software company. Can it still exist today? That's me. I'm once again, after many years, writing my own commercial software to sell. A few things have changed: the patent feeding frenzy. This is my main concern. My perception is that one must verify that you don't infringe on any patents when developing new cool software, and that the explosion of patents granted by the USPTO has reached epic proportions. If this perception is true, then that makes it almost impossible for the Lone Coder to create something new that doesn't infringe on other patents. The amount of money required to perform the due diligence research seems like it would be greater than the amount of money needed to develop the software, or even the total revenues that the software could ever generate. Please someone tell me I'm wrong!" Is he?
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Is The Lone Coder Dead?

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:37PM (#10838051)
    I just heard some sad news on talk radio - The Lone Coder was found dead in front of his home computer this evening. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to programming culture. Truly a geek icon.
  • by SimonInOz ( 579741 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:37PM (#10838058)
    Is that what you wanted to hear?
  • Yes. (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:41PM (#10838093)
    He worked himself to death.
  • by Realistic_Dragon ( 655151 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:49PM (#10838168) Homepage
    ...when you can write some software to do it automatically?
  • by StikyPad ( 445176 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:51PM (#10838193) Homepage
    "Carson.. promise you'll never die."

    "You know I can't promise that."

    "If you did, I'd make love to you right now."

    "I promise. I will never die."
  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:51PM (#10838197)
    The Lone Coder is indeed dead, shot by the Lone Gunman. Only later was it revealed that the gunman was also a patent attorney for Microsoft.
  • by doi ( 584455 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @09:53PM (#10838211)
    Shit, don't bother writing it first, just patent something!
  • by Genda ( 560240 ) <marietNO@SPAMgot.net> on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @10:17PM (#10838416) Journal
    Obviously the goliaths of the world would never bother to resort to the rediculous slash and burn practices you're talking about...

    Why that would be like billion dollars music corporations suing 12 year olds for listening to bootleg music...

    What an irrational, ridiculous, and fuitless waste of time and legal process that would be, eh?

    -- Genda
  • by tempest69 ( 572798 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @10:18PM (#10838431) Journal
    But I want my cash on my patent: Novel methods for accessing data, Stored memory addressing and indirect methodologies. And my second one. Incremented-Decremented Data register methodologies. Cause Programmers really need new non-incremental/decremental vector step through.
  • by $alex_n42 ( 679887 ) <`druid_noi' `at' `yahoo.com'> on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @10:50PM (#10838658) Homepage Journal
    'ees not dead, 'ees pinin'
  • by darkPHi3er ( 215047 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @10:54PM (#10838684) Homepage
    "The Lone Coder was found dead in front of his home computer this evening"

    In a later news release of the Preliminary Autopsy Results:

    1. He had Type II diabetes from the consumption of Mountain Dew/Code Red.

    2. He has extremity palsy from the intake of Jolt Cola.

    3. He was having Grand Mal epileptic seizures from the MSG in his local Chinese takeout.

    4. He had become reclusive with the shock of finding out that real, live women DIDN'T have staples in their navels.

    5. He hands had become claws due to the carpal tunnel and tendonitis from his non-ergonomic keyboard.

    HOWEVER, the proximate cause of death was...

    6. He attempted to read the entire set of Don Knuth's TAOCP (The Art of Computer Programming) AND "Regular Expressions in PERL" in the same evening and HIS HEAD EXPLODED!!!

    LATE BREAKING NEWS:
    In a joint press announcment, Microsoft, Sun, Apple and SCO announced that they were SURE that the Lone Coder's work infringed on their IP, and they would be seeking redress beyond the grave, from the appropriate authorities, saying "If ANYONE thinks that merely by DYING they can escape the reach of our lawyers enforcing our intellectual property rights, they will find out just how far we will go to make sure that every line of ever written has the protection it deserves!"

    He is survived by his parents, who will be paying off his student loans from MIT for the rest of their natural lives, and his high school sweetheart, who, unknown to the Lone Coder, due to lack of consortium, became a lesbian several years ago and moved to North Beach.

    Richard Stallman has annouced that he's quite sure the Lone Coder's work was pretty much something that he had written in LISP on a napkin, one lunch 30 years ago at the Lampoon, but he was kinda buzzed and "...wasn't sure what i did with the *&)&*(&)( napkin...!"

  • by Tassach ( 137772 ) on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:08PM (#10838765)
    He had become reclusive with the shock of finding out that real, live women DIDN'T have staples in their navels.
    Coulda fooled me. This summer it seemed like every other 20-something woman was wearing a shirt that let her belly button hang out -- and the majority of them had navels that were decorated with metallic devices of some kind or another. Piercing... staple... same thing.

    Sheesh, kids these days :-)

  • by packeteer ( 566398 ) <packeteer AT subdimension DOT com> on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:16PM (#10838807)
    Netcraft confirms it... the lone coder is dead
  • LP! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:31PM (#10838898)
    Last Post!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 16, 2004 @11:45PM (#10838992)
    quit replying to your own posts MillionthMonkey. we know its you.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:33AM (#10839287)
    You are his son. Is the family supported or not ? What exactly do you mean "probably not enough to support a family" ? You are IN that family, right ?
  • The Details (Score:5, Funny)

    by PetoskeyGuy ( 648788 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @12:49AM (#10839393)
    LoneCoder [slashdot.org] does indeed appear dead. LongCoder started posting to slashdot in early 2000. His 7 short comments receiving a score of 1 each caused him to take a 4 year break from posting to slashdot.

    A carefully worded post praising Suse Linux netted him a score of 4 he briefly basked in his own reflected glory. Unfortunately his very successs was also his downfall. Unable to handle the thought of another 1 point post after gaining acceptance for the first time through /. moderators, LoneCoder took his own life.

    On his computer were found many text files containing various drafts of "In Soviet Russia", "Imagine a Beaowulf", and other unposted commemts along with his predictions on their possible scores.

    He leaves behind No Friends [slashdot.org], No Foes [slashdot.org], No Freaks [slashdot.org], and No Fans [slashdot.org], and no forwarding email.

    Remember his final words: SuSE rules!! [slashdot.org]
  • by flacco ( 324089 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @01:16AM (#10839542)
    hmmm....

    racist: check.
    ad hominem: check.
    homophobe: check.
    anonymous: check.
    coward: check.

    diagnosis: troll.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @02:11AM (#10839757)
    If hardware was somehow delivered across warez networks, would anyone buy hardware? That's why warez is so destuctive; things stop being created. A world with 6 billion people and there are two browsers. A world with 6 billion people and all the idiots come here.
  • by stridebird ( 594984 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @04:32AM (#10840239) Homepage
    Nice site. A gentle bit of proof reading for you:

    You are making the obvious move of wording your text to make yourself seem bigger than a back room operation...but you have made a mistake. quoting from the site:

    We are always glad to hear feedback from my customers.

    at http://www.dbapsoftware.com/about.html [dbapsoftware.com]

    good luck with your business.

  • by jez9999 ( 618189 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @05:17AM (#10840357) Homepage Journal
    Old Idea. "I want to have sex"
    New idea.....
  • by KontinMonet ( 737319 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @05:56AM (#10840456) Homepage Journal
    MS set the president

    Ahah! So this explains how Dubya got back in.
  • by scum-e-bag ( 211846 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @08:06AM (#10840764) Homepage Journal
    Thanks for a good laugh!

    Good karma is going your way!
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @10:02AM (#10841496)
  • by Ryosen ( 234440 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @11:43AM (#10842320)
    >>What about the "land of the free", "the land of opportunity", "the american dream" ?

    Thank you for inquiring about our line of exciting products, including "Land of the Free", "Land of Opportunity", and our most popular product, "American Dream". As you can well imagine, our products are in very high demand and can often be difficult to obtain. For this reason, we have recently expanded our distribution channels and partnered with some very fine retailers. We hope that this information will be of use to you in your searching.

    Since 2000, "Land of the Free" has been distributed by GOP Industries and is now marketed under their brand "Land of the Wealthy". A second, more modest version of this product is also available as "Land of the Drive-Thru-Please".

    Long regarded as one of our most cherished offerings, "Land of Opporunity" is now available exclusively thru Wal-Mart. Enrollment in their "Greeter" program is required.

    Without question, "American Dream" is our most popular product. Now available exclusively through the USPTO, this exciting product will make a fine family heirloom for generations to come. The MSRP is 3 congressmen and, due to the recent devaluation in Democratic Senators, we can only accept Republicans at this time. If you would like to own a piece of this exquisite product, please have your attorneys or lobbyist contact us directly.

    You might also be interested in our latest prodct addition, a beautiful coffee-table book titled "A Guide to Ethics in American Politics". Weighing in at a hefty 2.5 ounces, this is a volume that anyone would be proud to display on their bookshelves.

    We look forward to hearing from you soon,

    Sincerely,

    Karl Rove
    US Customer Service Representative
    Illuminati Corp.

  • by real gumby ( 11516 ) on Wednesday November 17, 2004 @03:27PM (#10844900)
    Since 2000, "Land of the Free" has been distributed by GOP Industries...
    And as a service, [moomilk.com] Iraqi developers get to receive theirs "to-go!"

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