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Old 08-30-2010
Paul Allen's Complaint Against the World, as text
So, do you hate software patents yet, now that you've read about Paul Allen's patent infringement lawsuit against the world and his dog?
I think it ought to inspire you, reading Allen's complaint [PDF], that it might get you to the tipping point, or at least help you to understand why most engineers do hate software patents, because they are a drain on the economy and a hindrance to innovation. So we did Allen's complaint as text, sort of as Exhibit A, shall we say, illustrating the point.
But if you can figure out precisely what this litigation is about from this complaint, what the defendants are alleged to have done wrong, you are doing better than I am. It's unbelievably vague.
So are the patents. What is it that these patents do? What's the process or method? I mean, "Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest", a patent on a system for recommending things that might interest you based on your interest in something else? How's this for prior art? When I go to the local hamburger joint, they ask me if I want fries with my burger.

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test::checkchanges

Test::CheckChanges(3pm) 				User Contributed Perl Documentation				   Test::CheckChanges(3pm)

NAME

       Test::CheckChanges - Check that the Changes file matches the distribution.

VERSION

       Version 0.14

SYNOPSIS

	use Test::CheckChanges;
	ok_changes();

       You can make the test optional with

	use Test::More;
	eval { require Test::CheckChanges };

	if ($@) {
	    plan skip_all => 'Test::CheckChanges required for testing the Changes file';
	}
	ok_changes();

DESCRIPTION

       This module checks that you Changes file has an entry for the current version of the Module being tested.

       The version information for the distribution being tested is taken out of the Build data, or if that is not found, out of the Makefile.

       It then attempts to open, in order, a file with the name Changes or CHANGES.

       The Changes file is then parsed for version numbers.  If one and only one of the version numbers matches the test passes.  Otherwise the
       test fails.

       A message with the current version is printed if the test passes, otherwise dialog messages are printed to help explain the failure.

       The examples directory contains examples of the different formats of Changes files that are recognized.

FUNCTIONS

       All functions listed below are exported to the calling namespace.

   ok_changes( )
	   The ok_changes method takes no arguments and returns no value.

CHANGES FILE FORMAT

       Currently this package parses 4 different types of "Changes" files.  The first is the common, free style, "Changes" file where the version
       is first item on an unindented line:

	0.01  Fri May  2 15:56:25 EDT 2008
	      - more info

       The second type of file parsed is the Module::Changes::YAML format changes file.

       The third type of file parsed has the version number proceeded by an * (asterisk).

	Revision history for Perl extension Foo::Bar

	* 1.00

	Is this a bug or a feature

       The fourth type of file parsed starts the line with the word Version followed by the version number.

	Version 6.00  17.02.2008
	 + Oops. Fixed version number. '5.10' is less than '5.9'. I thought
	   CPAN would handle this but apparently not..

       There are examples of these Changes file in the examples directory.

       Create an RT if you need a different format file supported.  If it is not horrid, I will add it.

       The Debian style "Changes" file will likely be the first new format added.

BUGS

       Please open an RT if you find a bug.

       <http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Test-CheckChanges>

AUTHOR

       "G. Allen Morris III" <gam3@gam3.net>

COPYRIGHT &; LICENSE
       Copyright (C) 2008-2010 G. Allen Morris III, all rights reserved.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.10.1							    2010-03-06						   Test::CheckChanges(3pm)