I have never really understood (or perhaps know where I stand) on the issue of software patents, this article did not help.
"What is most alarming is that patent office automatically publishes applications online after the 18 months ... This effectively undermines the entire purpose of the patent system: the patent office is charging the applicant serious money for giving it the privilege of giving away their commercial secrets."
You know that going in (that you might not get a patent but that it will be published), it's a risk, but the whole idea is that great ideas will be released into the public domain with enough information to be implemented.
"They had the concept right, but they surely never conceived of Amazon.com patenting clicks in an online shopping cart and methods for having an online discussion"
This is an issue but in my opinion an issue with the patent office granting patents which through granting do not further innovation in the slightest (rather than it being software). A counter to this example would be perhaps, MapReduce [1].
"What is most alarming is that patent office automatically publishes applications online after the 18 months ... This effectively undermines the entire purpose of the patent system: the patent office is charging the applicant serious money for giving it the privilege of giving away their commercial secrets."
You know that going in (that you might not get a patent but that it will be published), it's a risk, but the whole idea is that great ideas will be released into the public domain with enough information to be implemented.
"They had the concept right, but they surely never conceived of Amazon.com patenting clicks in an online shopping cart and methods for having an online discussion"
This is an issue but in my opinion an issue with the patent office granting patents which through granting do not further innovation in the slightest (rather than it being software). A counter to this example would be perhaps, MapReduce [1].
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapReduce.