From 659f2af428935b83155c5e638d03e7c8501f2eaf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Poul-Henning Kamp Date: Fri, 17 May 2019 19:08:12 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] I had a good idea. --- doc/sphinx/phk/index.rst | 1 + doc/sphinx/phk/patent.rst | 233 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 234 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/sphinx/phk/patent.rst diff --git a/doc/sphinx/phk/index.rst b/doc/sphinx/phk/index.rst index d258654d85..70a7edc163 100644 --- a/doc/sphinx/phk/index.rst +++ b/doc/sphinx/phk/index.rst @@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ You may or may not want to know what Poul-Henning thinks. .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 + patent.rst lucky.rst apispaces.rst VSV00001.rst diff --git a/doc/sphinx/phk/patent.rst b/doc/sphinx/phk/patent.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..426e9ba133 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/sphinx/phk/patent.rst @@ -0,0 +1,233 @@ +.. _phk_patent: + +A patently good idea +==================== + +When I was in USA, diplomas on the wall was very much a thing. + +I don't think I fully reverse-engineered the protocol for which +diplomas would get hung and which would be filed away, apart from +the unbreakable rule that, like it or not, anything your company +handed out was mandatory on the office-wall, no matter how embarrasing. + +Our paediatrician had diplomas for five or six steps of her education. + +My favourite pizzeria had a diploma for "Authentic Italian Food" +from a US organization suffering from fuzzy territorial perception. + +Co-workers had diplomas from their universities, OSHA, USAF, DoE, +CalTrans and who knows what. + +But the gold-standard of diplomas, at least amongst the engineers, +was having a US Patent on the wall, even if it only ever made them +a single dollar in assignment fee. + +I asked one of them about his patent and he answered wryly: *"It +proves to my boss and my mom that I had at least one unique idea +in my career."* + +Personally I do not think the patent system does what people think +it does, ie: protect the small inventor from big companies, so I +have no patents to my name, and in fact no diplomas on my wall at +all. + +But I still mentally carve a notch when I see one of my ideas +being validated in some form. + +Containers and Zones are not jails, but they know, and I know, where +they got the basic idea from, and that is plenty of validation +for my ego. + +Today is Store Bededag in Denmark, loosely translated "All Prayers +Day", by definition a friday and we, like many other danes, have +eloped to the beach-house for a long weekend. + +But being self-employed I puttered around with VCC, the VCL compiler, +this morning, and as a result, you will soon be able to say:: + + import vmod_with_impractically_long_name as v; + +My idea that Varnish would be configured in a Domain Specific +Language compiled to native code is obviously one of my better, +and about 10 years ago, that was becoming very obvious. + +In Norway `Varnish Software `_ were +being spun out of the Redpill-Linpro company. + +Artur Bergman, one of the first Varnish Cache power users, who ran +Wikias content delivery and hit our project like a blast-oven with +ideas, patches, measurements, general good cheer and incredibly low +tolerance for bull-shit, started the `Fastly CDN `_. + +Prior to that, I had done a bit of soul-searching myself, wondering +if I should try to take Varnish and run with it? + +In conventional economic theory, I would have patented the +VCL idea, and become as rich as the idea was good. + +But in all probable worlds, that would only have meant that the +idea would be dead as a doornail, I would not have made any money +from it, it would never have helped improve the web, and I would +have wasted much more of my life in meetings than would be good for +anybodys health. + +As if that wasn't enough, the very thought of having to hire somebody +scared me, but not nearly as much as the realization that if I built +a company with any number of employees, sooner or later I would +have to fire someone again. + +Writing code? Yes. + +Running a growing company? No. + +The result of my soul-searching was this email to announce@ where +I took myself out of the game: + +.. code-block:: text + + Subject: For the record: Varnish and Money + From: Poul-Henning Kamp + To: varnish-announce@varnish-cache.org + Date: Fri Nov 19 14:03:22 CET 2010 + + Just so everybody know where I stand on this... + + Poul-Henning + + -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- + Hash: SHA1 + + + Introduction + - ------------ + + As the main developer of the Varnish Software and the de-facto leader + of the Varnish Open Source Project, it is my desire to see Varnish + used and adopted as widely as possible. + + To the same ends, the founders of the Varnish Project chose the BSD + license to facilitate commercial exploitation of Varnish in all + forms, while protecting the independence of the Open Source Project. + + The BSD license is non-discriminatory, and makes no attempt to + separate the good guys from the bad guys, and neither should it. + + The Varnish Project, as a community, is a different story. + + While the BSD license can guarantee that Varnish, as software, will + always be available, a thriving Open Source Community takes a fair + bit more effort to hold together. + + Nothing can rip apart an Open Source project faster than competing + commercial interests playing dirty, and since Varnish has started + to cause serious amounts of money to shift around, it is time to + take this issue a bit more seriously. + + + Non-competition pledge: + - ----------------------- + + My interest in Varnish is developing capable quality software, and + making a living at the same time. + + In addition to Varnish, I have some long time good customers for + whom I do various weird things with computers and software, and + since they have stuck with me and paid my bills, I will stick with + them and send them more bills. + + The Varnish Moral License (VML) was drawn up to provide a money-stream + that can fund my Varnish-habit, and it was designed as an "arms-length" + construction to prevent it from taking control of the projects + direction. + + Therefore acquiring a VML does not mean that you get to tell me + what to do, or in which order I should do it. There is no "tit for + tat" involved. The only thing you get out of the VML, is that the + next version of Varnish will be better than the one we have now. + + Therefore: + + As long as I can keep my family fed, happy and warm this + way, I will not enter any other commercial activity related + to Varnish, and am more than happy to leave that field open + to everybody and anybody, who wants to try their hand. + + + Fairness pledge: + - ---------------- + + As the de-facto leader of the Varnish community, I believe that + the success or failure of open source rises and falls with the + community which backs it up. + + In general, there is a tacit assumption, that you take something + from the pot and you try put something back in the pot, each to his + own means and abilities. + + And the pot has plenty that needs filling: From answers to newbies + questions, bug-reports, patches, documentation, advocacy, VML funding, + hosting VUG meetings, writing articles for magazines, HOW-TO's for + blogs and so on, so this is no onerous demand for anybody. + + But the BSD license allows you to not participate in or contribute + to the community, and there are special times and circumstances + where that is the right thing, or even the only thing you can do, + and I recognize that. + + Therefore: + + I will treat everybody, who do not contribute negatively to + the Varnish community, equally and fairly, and try to foster + cooperation and justly resolve conflicts to the best of my + abilities. + + + Policy on Gifts: + - ---------------- + + People sometimes prefer to show their appreciation of Varnish by + sending me gifts. + + I really love that + + But please understand, that any and gifts or other appreciations I + may receive, from cartoons on my Amazon Wishlist, up to and including + pre-owned tropical tax-shelter islands, with conveniently unlocked + bank vaults filled with gold bars (one can always dream...), will + all be received and interpreted the same way: As tokens of + appreciation for deeds already done, and encouragement to me to + keep doing what is right and best for Varnish in the future. + + + Poul-Henning Kamp + + Signed with my PGP-key, November 19th, 2010, Slagelse, Denmark. + -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- + Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (FreeBSD) + + iEYEARECAAYFAkzmdRkACgkQlftZhnGqOJOJwwCffytQ5kGP+Grh2unpNIIw8G2R + QcQAn18fGLT4Lx2ACBivtk5wEFy6fUcu + =3V52 + -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- + -- + Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 + phk@FreeBSD.ORG | TCP/IP since RFC 956 + FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe + Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence. + +Today (20190517) Arturs `Fastly `_, company +went public on the New York Stock Exchange, and went up from $16 +to $24 in a matter of hours. So-called "financial analysts" write +that as a consequence Fastly is now worth 2+ Billion Dollars. + +I can say with 100% certainty and honesty that there is no way +I could *ever* have done that, that is entirely Arturs doing and +I know and admire how hard he worked to make it happen. + +Congratulations to Artur and the Fastly Crew! + +But I will steal some of Arturs thunder, and point to Fastlys IPO +as proof that at least once in my career, I had a unique idea worth +a billion dollars :-) + +*phk*