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Pulcinella commented on Monodraw   monodraw.helftone.com/... · Posted by u/mafro
quesera · a day ago
A lease implies a limited term though, doesn't it?

A perpetual, irrevocable, lease could be a thing.

Pulcinella · a day ago
A perpetual, irrevocable "lease" is just be a "sale". You are just selling a copy at that point. Subscription-based/SAAS software is leased.

I know it's pedantic, but to me the key thing is that it is the rights themselves that are "licensed." Not specific copies. The license covers what ways you are and are not allowed to make more copies (that aren't just your personal copy). So e.g. Open Source/Free Software/Closed Source libraries can be "licensed" and copies of them can be modified and included in work you create according to the license.

Pulcinella commented on Monodraw   monodraw.helftone.com/... · Posted by u/mafro
quesera · a day ago
Maybe just semantics? I think "license" is more technically correct. Even in the best consumer case, you are only "buying" a perpetual right to use a software product. Optionally, you might also get updates.

In the US, the First-Sale Doctrine won't apply to software (unlike tangible books and records) so you probably do not have the right to sell your copy of this software to another person.

Since that's not true ownership, I think it can only be described as a license.

But I'll agree that all sorts of shenanigans can, and often do, hide under that generic term. However, "buy" could suggest many substantial rights that are not on offer (most importantly distribution), so it's a bit of a quandary.

The phrase "Buy Now - $9.99, yours forever" might thread the needle. The sale page would still need to include all the legal terms, of course. I think "license" is a necessary word there.

Pulcinella · a day ago
Personal pet peeve, but the word people use really should be "lease." Copyright and patent rights are licensed (e.g. getting a license from Disney to manufacture Star Wars toys). The particular copy of the software you have is either sold or leased to you. If you buy a physical book, you are just being sold a copy. The book itself doesn't function as an ad hoc, theoretical license or anything.

Not sure how first sale affects software sales other than software rental in the USA is an exception to the first sale doctrine. Software rental is not allowed unless it's a physical video game copy for a video game console or you have a physical copy of the software and you can't just easily make a copy of it in the normal course of using it (not sure exactly what this would mean, but presumably things like software for embedded devices). There are exceptions for libraries and educational institutions.

I am not a lawyer, however.

Pulcinella commented on Apple introduces a universal design across platforms   apple.com/newsroom/2025/0... · Posted by u/meetpateltech
satvikpendem · 3 months ago
> Why update a static screen at 120 fps?

Good thing it doesn't do that then, variable refresh rate displays that go down to 1 Hz are fairly standard now on phones as well as other displays.

Pulcinella · 3 months ago
Even before that, mobile UI frameworks are retained mode GUIs, not immediate. They aren't drawing to a blank framebuffer 120 times a second if they don't have to. Redraws only happen when something changes (e.g. "Dirty" rects).
Pulcinella commented on Apple Notes Will Gain Markdown Export at WWDC, and, I Have Thoughts   daringfireball.net/linked... · Posted by u/robenkleene
marxisttemp · 3 months ago
See also SwiftUI’s AttributedString, which can be directly instantiated from a string literal containing Markdown syntax.
Pulcinella · 3 months ago
Nitpick: AttributedString is a member of the Swift Foundation framework. It's not limited to SwiftUI.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/attribu...

Pulcinella commented on Root shell on a credit card terminal   stefan-gloor.ch/yomani-ha... · Posted by u/stgl
zidoo · 3 months ago
Amen for the first sentence. One more LLM wrapper today, and I would die.
Pulcinella · 3 months ago
"Prompt Kiddie" should be the new "Script Kiddie"
Pulcinella commented on Did Akira Nishitani Lie in the 1994 Capcom vs. Data East Lawsuit?   thrillingtalesofoldvideog... · Posted by u/danso
Pulcinella · 3 months ago
Given how video game patents are in the news lately (with Nintendo suing the PalWorld devs for patent infringement rather than copyright infringement), I wonder how this would have turned out if Capcom managed to patent how SF2 works and sued for that instead.

Personally I think patenting game mechanics is absurd (far worse than software patents, even). It would be like an authoring patenting the three-act structure. More legal clarity around this would be nice. Maybe Judge Alsup could become a combo lab monster[0] as well to help decide the case!

[0]https://glossary.infil.net/?t=Lab

Pulcinella commented on Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine   mcsweeneys.net/articles/a... · Posted by u/zdw
SilasX · 3 months ago
Learning from copyrighted works to create new ones has never been protected by copyright[1], and has never needed separate licensing rights. Until 2022, no one even suggested it, to a rounding error. If anything, people would have been horrified at the idea of being dinged because your novel clearly drew inspiration from another work.

That narrative only got picked up because people needed a reason to demonize evil corps that they already hated for unrelated reasons.

[1] Yes, if you create "new" works from your learning that are basically copies, that has always been infringement. I'm talking about the general case.

Pulcinella · 3 months ago
"It's not piracy! I'm learning from all this media I didn't pay for!"
Pulcinella commented on Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine   mcsweeneys.net/articles/a... · Posted by u/zdw
Pulcinella · 3 months ago
Even "plagiarism" is putting way to positive a spin on it. "Rampant copyright infringement" is more accurate.

I'm sure we all have our own feelings about IP law, but remember what happens to regular people who try stuff like this. I don't think the RIAA, Disney, or Nintendo (or the government) are going to be pleased to hear "it's not piracy! It's a transformative experience protected by fair use!"

Pulcinella commented on Why Are ADHD Rates So Much Higher in the U.S.?   gizmodo.com/why-are-adhd-... · Posted by u/rntn
Pulcinella · 4 months ago
In comparison to other places in the world (especially Asia), there is somewhat lower stigma regarding ADHD in the U.S.

I would add the UK to the stigma list as well. The UK government and NHS are pretty rabidly ADHD-denialist and make it incredibly difficult to get a diagnosis.

Pulcinella commented on E.U. Prepares Major Penalties Against X   nytimes.com/2025/04/03/te... · Posted by u/dotcoma
amazingamazing · 5 months ago
They should do 100B - what’re they gonna do? Same for the rest of American big tech. Sue ‘em all, 5B a year. Just pass a law naming them specifically for a special tax.
Pulcinella · 5 months ago
Does the EU not have protections against bills of attainder?

u/Pulcinella

KarmaCake day3683January 19, 2017View Original