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Very good points and I agree with you about Microsoft possibly buying the company.
Also, it is frustrating such as in the case of Flappy Bird where there were a million knock-offs.
However, I believe if Flappy Bird hadn't been abandoned then the original creator would've been able to fight those -- of course that means legal action and that's a time-waster.
However, I believe if the original creator hadn't given up on it then others wouldn't have been as quick to try to steal feeling the compulsion of law against them.
For example, Super Mario Bros doesn't have near as many knock offs -- or at least none of them really ever became more popular than the original.
But, again I agree with you that real creators are somewhat crushed between the thieves and the patent trolls. It's a difficult challenge.
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Look. We write software to make a profit, and because we enjoy it.
I am a libertarian, I believe in property rights above all else.
But I also believe that patents should be a LOT harder to get.
WD-40 did not patent their product, and it helps them because it would have expired long ago.
If a product, like flappy bird, is easy to reproduce/knock off, then it
DESERVES to be knocked off. It served its purpose, and made the author rich.
Move on.
I do NOT believe in software patents. They get Copyrights. They are written.
Hardware Patents. Oh Yeah!
But it gets crazy. For example Ice Ice Baby turned out to rip off someone elses tune.
He gets NOTHING from sales of that song.
This is where it gets blurry. Do we protect software the same way? Someone makes a
word processor, and EVERY WORD PROCESSOR (because it has the same basic "beat") is now
infringing? (Copyright laws COULD do that), despite Borland winning the Look and Feel case
against Lotus!
If taking an idea to its very end scares you as much as this idea scares me, then it is
probably a bad idea to be applying it this way.
Personal Quip: Most doors in a restroom use a little SLIDER device to lock/unlock the door.
How did Apple Patent that SAME CONCEPT in a different form factor (slide to unlock)???
Knock offs only work when the core brand was successful. I HOPE FOR YOU that your idea is so good that you get THOUSANDS of knockoffs! 
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I agree 100%.
At most you could copyright a specific brand but not an idea who's origin is generic in both concept and application. Ideally this application will evolve into a much more complete plug-in for both existing and new ETL/Data Warehousing solutions.
Thanks for your reply!
I hate users. Not all of them, just the ones who talk.CP member: Al Einstien
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Great input. Really great example about the slider device on restroom as an analogy to apple's lame patent on slide to unlock.
That's my point too, the less patents the better really. If you make something great people will buy it...and steal it. 
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In very simple terms:
a trademark protects the names of things, e.g. Flappy Bird.
a patent protects an invention.
a copyright protects the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. The U.S. courts, at least in the case of Lotus 123 ruled that look and feel can be part of the expression of an idea, but exactly where the line gets drawn is extremely fuzzy.
In the U.S. at least, you can claim a copyright or a trademark without actually registering it with the government and still be protected by law, though those protections are not as strong as those actually registered.
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Check out Willams arcade game Joust to discover where Flappy Bird got its idea.
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Been there, done that - and happy to answer any specific questions either here, by privmail or on Twitter (@annajayne[^]).
A couple of book references to get you started:
- Bob Walsh's MicroISV: From Viuion to Reality[^] is a good primer if you're thinking about starting out.
- Eric Sink's On The Business of Software[^] is worth reading too - though much of the ground covered (e.g. exhibiting at a large trade show) appears at first glance more applicable to more estabished businesses, it's stuff you should know about (or know you need to know about), really. Plus, it's very, very funny in places.
Books aside (and there really are loads more) the best thing about starting up today is that there is a well established startup community you can lean on. From the ASP Forums[^] to Conferences like Business of Software[^], you don't have to struggle on alone.
Once you get going you'll have to rapidly learn about DevOps, Software Licencing, Customer Support and much, much more. Your brain will hurt, and days will be too short....but if you find you enjoy it you'll probably be hooked. Trust me on that!
Anna ( @annajayne)
Tech Blog | Visual Lint
"Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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Submit your program or idea and check out Windows Store.
Of one Essence is the human race
thus has Creation put the base
One Limb impacted is sufficient
For all Others to feel the Mace
(Saadi )
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I would like to thank everyone for their feedback.
A lot of people brought up ideas that I hadn't thought of before.
I think my best course of action would be to finish up the application and offer it up to beta testers and see how much (if any) interest there is in the marketplace.
Thanks again!
I hate users. Not all of them, just the ones who talk.CP member: Al Einstien
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If you offer it to beta testers.
Please make it so THAT version will timeout.
Also, COMMIT to:
1) Ensuring there is a real version they can get to
2) If you FAIL, promise and deliver on making it opensource, on GitHub or Here...
The point being... The only thing that scares me about buying software, is what
happens when the vendor goes under, and I get a new machine and the software will
not install because of it (I use CFI ShellToys), when he closed shop, he released
a non-protected version, and thanked us all.
I emailed him to get him to OpenSource it, so it could live on, but his email was
already taken down. Opportunity lost. I paid decent money, and it still works,
which is good. And upgrading my hard drive no longer causes it to fail
Anyways, with a commitment like that, you are likely to get more traction. If it
is worthwhile, you will profit. If knockoffs come, they have been forewarned that
they have LITTLE VALUE if you close up shop, because THEY will be forced to compete
with Free.
And the Barrier to entry and the Risk to the consumer is greatly reduced. Especially
a corporate user who does not want to maintain your code, but might feel compelled if
they have to.
Again, I hope THOUSANDS of knockoffs show up because of your success...
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OMalleyW wrote: If I just wanted to sell it outright retaining no rights. How could I market the application to a company like Microsoft without them just taking the idea and developing it on their own?
Let them come to you. Build a profitable company around your idea to get their attention, and protect it so they can't reproduce it on their own. Then sell the company to them.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
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I was considering doing a video in connection with an article I'm writing. What (free) software can I use to capture the Vistual Studio window (as opposed to the entire screen) as I'm using it?
EDIT ===============
I think the term I should have used was "screencast" as opposed to "screen capture".
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
modified 4-Feb-15 10:06am.
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I thought that's what alt+prntscrn did?
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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You learn something new everyday, thanks.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
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This makes a printscreen : it does not record a video.
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Whoops!..missed that detail! I did think it odd that JSOP wouldn't have known that! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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That's why I simply ignored your solution.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Well damn! Thank you.
I've spent years cropping the entire screen to get only the focus window. Sigh.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
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So do I, but it is not free.
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I thought something like this was possible with Camstudio[^] at least I think you can define a portion of the screen you'd like to record.
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Yes, Camstudio will do that. I use it for my YouTube stuff that doesn't have actual photos or video, capturing a part of Cakewalk Sonar's "staff view" for a little movement.
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there is an older version of Windows Media Encoder that will grab only parts of the screen while you use it and put it in a video file along with your voice over for creating a presentation. I liked it very much. version 9 I think but don't trust my memory much more than I trust Griff.
Linky for that[^]
As for screen capture. I really like OneNote. Just hit Winders Key - S and you can then click and drag with the mouse to grab the area of the screen you want to capture. Then paste as a jpg in Word, Excel, Paint. ETC.....
Is that kind of what you are looking for?
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
modified 3-Feb-15 14:12pm.
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Hi John, SnagIt [^] has a free 30-day full-functional trial. It does, indeed, let you limit the recorded area to the current window of your choice. You start the recording session, and then move the mouse until the window you want is highlighted.
cheers, Bill
«I'm asked why doesn't C# implement feature X all the time. The answer's always the same: because no one ever designed, specified, implemented, tested, documented, shipped that feature. All six of those things are necessary to make a feature happen. They all cost huge amounts of time, effort and money.» Eric Lippert, Microsoft, 2009
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Yet another vote for Camtasia, but TechSmith also has a free tool for this: Jing[^], if you need something for longer than the 30-day trial of Camtasia.
TTFN - Kent
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