Patent Horror Theater: The Beast From Cupertino

[charlie]

Patent Application #20090265214, wherein Mad Dr Jobs unleashes a monster to wreak havoc upon the world -- an OS with methods to enforce compulsory ad viewing:

Abstract - Among other disclosures, an operating system presents one or more advertisements to a user and disables one or more functions while the advertisement is being presented. At the end of the advertisement, the operating system again enables the function(s). The advertisement can be visual or audible. The presentation of the advertisement(s) can be made as part of an approach where the user obtains a good or service, such as the operating system, for free or at reduced cost...

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a device, the method comprising:disabling a function of an operating system in a device;presenting an advertisement in the device while the function is disabled; andenabling the function in response to the advertisement ending.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein disabling the function causes the device to not respond to an input device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein disabling the function causes an application program to cease generating output.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operating system is scheduled to perform the disabling, presentation and enabling steps at predefined times.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the function among a plurality of functions before each advertisement presentation.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising determining, before each advertisement presentation, at least one activity being performed in the device, wherein the function is selected using the determination.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving user input prompting the presentation of the advertisement to be postponed for a predefined amount of time;postponing, in response to user input, the presentation of the advertisement by the predefined amount of time; andreducing a time until a subsequent advertisement is presented by the predefined amount of time...

...and much more.

Think different. Run like hell.

[ConsAreLiars]

1. I'm certain "evil" and "for profiit" are synonymous.

Run away, flee, go to open source where where the predators get exposed and banned. Linux Mint is a totally wonderful place to start: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

Edit to add that running the LiveCD will change nothing on your machine.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. You know that Macs use a lot of open source software?

Including BSD, GNU and Linux? They've piled their own proprietary stuff on top of it and forced development methodologies to fit their mold, but it's still a lot of open source stuff under the hood.

You also understand that if Linux had an 80% market share that it would be vulnerable to predators? The more machines there are running a specific OS, the more vectors are available to predators. The weak spot with any OS install is the user.

[hobbit709]

2. This idea makes M$ look good in comparison

and that's saying a lot.

[RoyGBiv]

4. No kidding ...

That's what's starting to bug me about several other companies. They're making Microsoft seem downright reasonable, which I guess is sorta what happened with IBM back in the day. First they were evil, then not quite so evil by comparison.

[pokerfan]

3. He can't actually force us to watch these ads

Can he?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

6. I heard if you don't

That he'll throw a giant sledge hammer through your TV screen.

[pokerfan]

7. That 1984 commercial

is looking more and more ridiculous every day.

Who's big brother now, Steve?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

8. It's so sad because they were such a good company a long time ago

I loved their computers and their attitude. For a long time Apple was a pretty progressive company, but no longer.

I have a love/hate relationship with Microsoft - I hate their aggressive business tactics, monopolistic practices, etc while at the same time making a pretty good living supporting their products. It's scary, though, that I consider Microsoft better than Apple (as a company).

[pokerfan]

9. Thanks to MS

and the gullibility of IBM at the time, we have inexpensive computing. Once Gates secured the rights to PCDOS and the right to sell MSDOS to anyone, the cat was out of the bag. Anyone could make a build a PC and sell it as a PC clone with MSDOS. That competition has led us to today where one can buy a reasonable computer for about $300. I often wonder where we'd be today had IBM adopted Apple's proprietary strategy.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

10. I think the market would have eventually given us a Microsoft

But it would have taken longer and probably inhibited innovation to a certain extent.

You're definitely correct - and were it not for Microsoft, I wouldn't have the $300 PC installed with Linux Mandriva that is my "test" machine.

[charlie]

11. And Compaq

For wresting the BIOS out of IBM's hands. That's another peddler of overpriced blahware that actually has a venerable place in home computing history.