Re: [PHP4BETA] Professional PHP by Schumann

. said: > Would it be not a good idea then, to request that PHP > programmers refuse to do any work for Amazon? I > understand that this is an outrageous and maybe absurd > thing to ask, but I also think that it would severely > hurt Amazon. In addition, I understand that it > probably would be unsuccessful, but at least they maybe > would get the point. So far it's a moot point - I've already got another two month contract to do for someone else, plus I've got several other interested companies lining up, and they want me to move to Seattle. As a refugee from the drizzle, I ain't goin' back. My family comes first. They went away to cogitate on the possibility of telecommuting, but it didn't sound like that would happen. On your philo. point, I agree. I believe that if one feels strongly about an ethical, moral, religious, family or whatever issue, one must be willing to sacrifice one's own best interest. I left the last company largely because commuting to Houston from Oregon for 3 months at a time was hurting my family. Of course there are different levels depending on the issue etc. I'm not going to fall on my sword because they serve the wrong donuts at coffee break! Stallman has rightly brought up the point. People will differ on what the proper response will be. Looking at the patent, it appears that there's nothing there that can be defended. It's important that some of us geeks participate in the system - analyze their case point by point and submit 'friend of the court' briefs to the presiding judge, demonstrating either by prior art, obviousness, or whatever argument that their patent can't stand. Each item has to be fought individually - defense is by obfuscation, indirection, and sheer volume. Please note - such briefs MUST BE DONE PROPERLY, or they're as useful as tissue paper. Spend $50 to get help from a lawyer after you write it up. In addition, either personally or preferably in cooperation with recognized industry or technical groups, lobby Amazon directly to get some sense in their head - big companies have lawyers, and lawyers look for reasons to justify themselves, and one way is to file patents. Lawyers haven't yet figured out that on the net, the software IS the law :O) Their lawyers probably are clueless on this topic, and just browbeat their poor techies into coming up with all the possible phrases they could think of to stuff into the application. FYI, I recently read that the average SysAdmin now makes more than the average lawyer. Something is right with the world. :O) G