Many Cards Versus One Card and a List Field

[Jeanne A. E. DeVoto]

At 6:06 PM -0800 1/15/2008, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>J. Downs wrote:
>>>  What made it possible to use HC that way was its "hint bits", a
>>>system for indexing field contents which is not only proprietary
>>>but patented as well.  Hint bits made it ultra-fast for obtaining
>>>data across the otherwise-complex structures that make up cards
>>>and  fields.
>>  Certainly any such patent has expired by now.  Patents are
>>enforceable a maximum of 20 years past the filing date.
>
>Cool.  Let us know what Apples says when you write to ask them for 
>the code. ;)

If they'd patented it, we wouldn't have to ask for the code, since 
revealing the algorithm is required to obtain the patent. (Patents 
don't function as some sort of extension of trade secret, although 
some companies would like you to think so. ;-) The purpose of a 
patent is to get a new technique into the public domain; the tradeoff 
for the company is 1) you reveal how to do this to the public, in 
exchange for 2) a limited-time legally enforceable monopoly on the 
technique, which you get even if someone else discovers it 
independently. For Apple, this means they could go to court during 
the life of the patent against anyone who used the same method, but 
the price is that everyone knows the method - so once the patent 
expires, anyone can use it. In a real sense, a patented technique is 
the opposite of proprietary.

However, this may be moot as I don't think they actually patented the 
use of hint bits for searching. At least I can't find it at the 
Patent Office site, although there are a lot of patents that mention 
HyperCard and I haven't looked at most of 'em.
-- 
Jeanne A. E. DeVoto, Transcript Language Curmudgeon
revolution at jaedworks.com
http://www.jaedworks.com