A day without programming?
And the CEO of Userland Software Inc. and head pooh-bah of the popular programmers site scripting.com isn't alone in his view. Like many developers, Winer has developed over the course of his career a number of technologies he easily could have patented -- the latest example being the Pike Web outlining technology -- but says he refrained from doing so because patents have a chilling effect on the software industry.
Winer dislikes patents so much that, a couple of weeks ago on scripting.com, he suggested programmers consider holding a daylong strike to protest the patent madness that's increasingly plaguing the industry.
While Winer says his idea was meant, more than anything, to encourage debate, the sentiments behind his suggested moratorium remain the same.
Rather than shirking their keyboards, software developers might find other ways to halt patent proliferation, Winer said.
"If you're a technologist and you see companies advertising 'patent pending,' go out and compete with them," said Winer.
"If the other company is granted the patent anyway, hand over your customers to them. Let them see if they can make them happy. Customers will be deprived of choice, as they are whenever they deal with a monopoly. This will quickly create a set of customers educated about the (patent) issue."
Because of the seemingly indiscriminate granting of patents -- for everything from Amazon.com's One Click to Microsoft's version of Cascading Style Sheet technology -- the driving principles of the software industry are rapidly disappearing, Winer warned.
"What determines success in our industry these days is having the best lawyers on your development team. I know a lot of lawyers and have sold software to them. Lawyers are not software designers."