http://alabe.com/photogal.html
I don't think they are going to take the computerized world into the timezone dark ages. I suspect this will all be resolved reasonably, especially if companies who ship this data get involved (e.g. every *nix vendor, Oracle (Java), etc).
I am sure they see great value in being the only Astrologers who can do this, which means that they need to suppress access to this data.
It's amazing to think that people might actually care about this kind of "accuracy" in Astrology, but unfortunately, you might just be right. Geez, maybe in a year or so, they're calling the other astrologers phonies because they can't possibly have the right data.
Our laws create an environment where intellectual property abuse has proven to be a profitable venture.
The solution is not to redefine corporations as non-greedy entities.
In theory, corporations are not solely profit-seeking. In practice, they tend to be.
The reasoning behind this is that shareholder needs tend to differ. If shareholders wish to engage in philanthropy, the corporation is not the ideal (shared) vessel for doing so. Instead, individual investors may receive their asset's rent and choose to distribute their earnings as they please; management is employed to run the Corp and not make decisions for the shareholders' philanthropic activities.
In today's world of abundant choice, companies have to provide good products AND provide them ethically.
Back on topic, look at what Astrolabe have done - taken something they probably couldn't make much money from anyway, and got the unix-derived world very pissed off with them. Their employees will feel down and it'll be harder to hire, and they'll have to endure snide remarks for years. I know I'd be selling their shares today, if I had any - I don't like investing in jerks.
Instead, they could have come out and said "We're pleased to donate our IP towards this amazingly useful service", and got a pat on the back from the world. And I'm guessing most of their shareholders would have been happy their investment was making the world a better place.
Wouldn't it be easier to take measures to make undesirable behavior unprofitable than to throw away capitalism?
The problem is with the broken legal system that needs to get fixed. No I am not happy about Astrolabe doing this stupid stuff, but they are quite clearly the symptom, not the root cause. We need to fix the system instead of crying foul everytime someone uses the broken system to do something that is against societies best interest.
The same is true of the financial system. Everyday I talk to people who complain about the greedy and 'stupid' bankers. Well, they behaved 100% rationally. If you work in a system where you can play 'heads I win, tails you loose' you almost have to do it (otherwise you will be outearned and get fired). The problem is the system that allows this kind of game. That is what needs to get fixed.
This isn't always true.
The objective of a corporation is defined by the objective of its owners (if the owners are any good). This objective might not necessarily be "to make as much money as possible."
Different corporations have different cultures, and these cultures can define different priorities for the companies.
Let's make it a place for civilized discourse instead... shall we?
PS there was an actual point there. You can disagree if you want I guess, but meta discussions are always stupid - post the disagreement instead.
What was it?
Not that I would claim I always manage to instill poigniancy into my jibes.
The problem with sarcasm is that it insulates you from having to make an argument yourself. All you have to do is mimic your opponent and make them sound ridiculous. It's almost inherently a straw man fallacy unless it is exceptionally careful.
If you can't use sarcasm you're forced to state what you believe in positive terms, which makes for much more fruitful discussion. It's like the "passive voice" of argumentation. There are some cases where you just have to, but your writing gets better if you categorically avoid it.
(Yes, I know, subjective, blah blah blah. I don't care.)
Seriously. Who came up with the moronic idea that people somehow "deserve" to know what time it is?
Of course, if you want to show up on time, on the correct day, you'll also need to license out access to our date server, in addition to the time server.
Only a pinko commie would think that privately-owned intellectual property like this should be free.
HN being a site full of entrepeneurs I often see concepts about society and rights where I feel sick in my stomach, so your post did not seem very unusual to me.