* Posts by John Gross

2 publicly visible posts • joined 14 May 2007

Court date for challenge to 'new' patent rules

John Gross
Flame

Vladimir for President !!

Thank God someone else is finally saying this out loud.

Writing software is more a form of carpentry than a form of artistry !!!

A programmers skill my improve the quality of his work but that is not innovation. And software companies, who poll their customers to discover what features their users want, can hardly call it unique or non-obvious if 95% of those polled thought of it.

The days of computer experts being thought of as wizards or geniuses is long gone. GET OVER IT !!! They need to stop expecting to earn 100's of millions off of a few weeks work!

Bill Gates did not get where he is because he was a great programmer or a great business man. He is a lawyer and he simply abused the inadequacies of the existing laws and applied slum-lord tactics to his marketing model.

Biofuels are the 'next environmental danger'

John Gross

biofuels have never been 'Green'

To set the record straight, Biofuels were never meant to be a 'Green' alternative to fossil fuels. Biofuel is a 'replenishable' fuel source. Unlike oil and coal that have finite reserves, biofuels can be produced indefinitely.

However, biofuels are still hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons, of any sort, produce greenhouse gases and carbon based pollutants. Even burning firewood produces these pollutants.

The most promising 'Green' fuel is Hydrogen. NOT hydrocarbon based ethanol 'fuel-cells', but raw hydrogen. Think Hindenburg! Removing hydrogen from water produces oxygen, and burning it turns it back into water. No carbon dioxide! No greenhouse gases! and you help to purify a little water as a bonus.

Hydrogen is sadly misrepresented as being to dangerous for general use, and yes it can explode into a space shuttle shattering fireball. Most of us, however, don't need to carry enough fuel to get into outerspace and back, and, let's face it, you wouldn't want your tank full of fossil fuel to catch on fire either.

Trucks and trains transport hydrogen on public transit systems every day and I have not heard of any massive hydrogen explosions as a result. In fact, existing freight systems (ships and rail), would be the ideal starting point for hydrogen power adoption.

Above all, the people who are working on the problem, need to focus more on finding a solution that works, and less on finding a solution that is unique enough to patent, or complicated enough to create a lock-in monopoly.