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Difference between revisions of "ESP Wiki:About"

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Four key points to remember about {{SITENAME}}:
 
Four key points to remember about {{SITENAME}}:
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# '''You''' can edit it.  Please do!  No account is necessary.  It uses the same wiki system as Wikipedia.
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# '''You''' can edit it.  Please do!  No account is necessary.  It uses the same wiki system as Wikipedia. (See: [[Help:How to make a good contribution]])
 
# We gather facts and studies, and we also gather questions, theories, and even curious ideas found on other forums.  ''The goal is to open these to examination so that, eventually, they will be proven or disproven''.
 
# We gather facts and studies, and we also gather questions, theories, and even curious ideas found on other forums.  ''The goal is to open these to examination so that, eventually, they will be proven or disproven''.
 
# If you spot an error, please remember point #1!
 
# If you spot an error, please remember point #1!
 
# The pages are '''not statements''' from any person or organisation.
 
# The pages are '''not statements''' from any person or organisation.
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==How to make a good contribution==
 
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===Stay on topic===
 
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====We don't evaluate corporate strategies====
 
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When documenting litigation between companies, we should (with exceptions described below) ignore the media's estimations of the profitability or emotions and focus on what problems this litigation highlights.
 
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For example, when Oracle sued Google over Java patents, here are two things we don't care about:
 
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* OFF TOPIC: Oracle wants to recuperate some of the costs of their purchase of Sun
 
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* OFF TOPIC: Oracle is sick of owning Java and being the only company that's not profiting from it
 
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These theories discuss the motivation for one company to attack another but the attack could be done in many ways.  These theories don't explain anything about the rights and wrongs, or the problems of patenting software ideas.
 
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Meanwhile, it's useful to note the effects that the population will experience:
 
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* ''ON'' TOPIC: Oracle is creating uncertainty for individuals and companies with projects based on Java
 
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* ''ON'' TOPIC: Microsoft is monopolising their file formats so they can charge extraordinarily high prices and block competition
 
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====Hardware patents are not our problem====
 
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Hardware patents are not problems for software developers.  Hardware patents are only restrictions on the manufacturing and distribution of hardware.
 
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Hardware patents might be bad economic policy.  Maybe they are, maybe they're not.  Same for patents on manufacturing pharmaceuticals or cars, but they're all off topic.  {{SITENAME}} is focussed on documenting the social and economic problems which patents cause to developers and distributors of ''software''.
 
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Remember that patents can be partly hardware, partly software.  For example, a patent could list various claims about a mechanical process and then add a later claim along the lines of "''The method described in Claim #1, performed by software on a computer''".
 
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:''(See also: [[How to read patents and gather prior art]])''
 
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===Write short, readable paragraphs===
 
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Two reasons:
 
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# {{SITENAME}} is the place where activists look for information.  Good activists are busy people.  Don't make their work difficult by writing long paragraphs or multiple paragraphs about the same topic.  Make the point, add your evidence, concisely.
 
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# Someone has to maintain each of these pages.  There are {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} on {{SITENAME}}.  Use as few words as possible.  That way, the quality and up-to-dateness can be maintained.
 
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===Focus on credibility, think about convincing a critic===
 
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We don't have to convince our friends, they see the logic already.  We have to convince our critics.
 
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Think about trying to gather support in a parliament.  There is probably a party or two that you think will support us.  Ignore them!  We don't need to put years of work into a resource like {{SITENAME}} to get their support.  Now concentrate on the other parties, the ones you ''disagree'' with.  We have to change their minds and get them on our side.  This will require facts, studies, quotes from business leaders.
 
  
 
==How to be efficient: Document things as you work==
 
==How to be efficient: Document things as you work==
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* [[Our goals]]
 
* [[Our goals]]
 
* [[Finding things on en.swpat.org]]
 
* [[Finding things on en.swpat.org]]
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* [[Help:Contents]]
  
  
 
{{footer}}
 
{{footer}}

Revision as of 09:19, 16 October 2010

Four key points to remember about ESP Wiki:

  1. You can edit it. Please do! No account is necessary. It uses the same wiki system as Wikipedia. (See: Help:How to make a good contribution)
  2. We gather facts and studies, and we also gather questions, theories, and even curious ideas found on other forums. The goal is to open these to examination so that, eventually, they will be proven or disproven.
  3. If you spot an error, please remember point #1!
  4. The pages are not statements from any person or organisation.

How to be efficient: Document things as you work

The hope is that while activists work on anti-software-patent campaigns, they will note things on ESP Wiki. By doing this, we consolidate our work while we do it, reducing the problem of information loss when people leave campaigns.

The relationship of End Software Patents (ESP)

Members of the End Software Patents (ESP) campaign are the principal contributors, and often work seven days a week to monitor quality, but they are not the only contributors, and do not systematically check all edits.

Related pages on ESP Wiki


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