Said to me at dinner last night: “There is a fine line between cynicism and bitching- you’re staying north of it.” — Rekha Murthy
Kathy Sierra is, as usual, dead on, this time talking about how dignity is overrated. I can’t wait to see her talk at GUADEC.
Spent a big chunk of yesterday at the first peer to patent workshop, which focused on issues of quality and reputation. Really fascinating technical and social design challenge- how to build a tool that can grow and harness patent-interested semi-expert communities without driving already stressed patent examiners out of their minds, or overly biasing them. Discovered that there aren’t that many key patent filings per year- it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to organize a small team to read every incoming software patent application and do a brief analysis for interest, broadness, possibility of existence of prior art, etc.