small companies either

One aspect that leaves a "bad taste in my mouth" when reading any product or service marketing collateral / information is including the phrase "our patented technology". I can't cover all the reasons why it sends cold chills down my spine, as it encompasses a "lifetime" of watching the current patent fiasco develop, but parts include visuals of patent trolls, patents on "Donald Trump comb-overs", and the demonic BSA (no, not the Boy Scouts of America) which appears to be another microsnot minion that cleanses hard drives with the same efficiency of a rapid deployment armor unit setting up a base in the Iraqi desert. Not only that, but they have a silly Beaver mascot that tries to teach youth not to steal software and the harsh consequences for tangling with big software companies (Perhaps attempting to reach the youth before they become corrupted by pirates, secret torrent societies, and/or evil Open Source Software?).Now before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, there are times for patents, but business processes, especially over data exhanges, e-commerce, and what a piece of software does is down right silliness. Almost everyone knows that the USPTO (the agency that issues patents and trademarks) is down right incompetent in regards to issuing class 705 patents in the areas of computing and ecommerce. So for I've found numerous patents that are dangerously ambiguous and blanket a technology so broadly that it's a wonder the internet and computing industry still exists. I found patents that covered subjects like: blinking text in a shopping cart (as pretty as it is, you can't use it now), displaying a sub total for items ordered, using red colored text to indicate a final price displayed, and someone that never invented anything to do with the online finance, banking or credit card systems recieved a patent that blankets all transfers of financial funds from one networked device to another... which basically puts the internet and the banking systems under the control of one person for a technology that we all take for granted: online banking, online shopping, etc. Scary right? Well now image this, they have sued 30+ companies and all but 8 have capitulated before the trial date. These are not small companies either, this is a host of who's who in payment processing and online commerce, including our largest banks, online auction sites, and online payment processors. The going rate for royalties is between 2 and 8 cents per transaction. Imagine one company that does 2 million transactions per day times 4 cents and that adds up to around $80,000 per day to a patent troll. Add in the fact that 20+ companies have already settled prior to court. You do the math. So, now our only hope for being saved by 8 remaining companies the might have the deep pockets to save us all from this patent troll, okay maybe just those of us that frequent the internet regularly. Maybe we should pressure our political leaders to overhaul the USPTO and the patent re-examination process (which is already being considered).So, what do you envision when you read the phrase "Our Patented Technology" in the first 7 or so words of a product or service description? I, for one, envision a trap that if the company offers inferior service, there are no competitors with similar products to turn to. On an addional point, such a phrase looks very self indulgent and offers no worth to a consumer. Afterall, as a customer, what does a patent do for me other than limiting my consumer based choices?My only comment to any buiness that uses the phrase "Out Patented Technology" as a portion of a selling point: Drop the line bozo, put your hands in the air and turn yourself in at the nearest marketing school. You need a lot of help.This phrase only pleases CEOs that spent company resources securing the silly patent in the first place and consequently love the sound of saying such a phrase to their investors. It's a useless phrase in marketing your services or products to an end consumer, at least every implementation I've seen in the last 20 years has been.One aspect that leaves a "bad taste in my mouth" when reading any product or service marketing collateral / information is including the phrase "our patented technology". I can't cover all the reasons why it sends cold chills down my spine, as it encompasses a "lifetime" of watching the current patent fiasco develop, but parts include visuals of patent trolls, patents on "Donald Trump comb-overs", and the demonic BSA (no, not the Boy Scouts of America) which appears to be another microsnot minion that cleanses hard drives with the same efficiency of a rapid deployment armor unit setting up a base in the Iraqi desert. Not only that, but they have a silly Beaver mascot that tries to teach youth not to steal software and the harsh consequences for tangling with big software companies (Perhaps attempting to reach the youth before they become corrupted by pirates, secret torrent societies, and/or evil Open Source Software?).Now before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, there are times for patents, but business processes, especially over data exhanges, e-commerce, and what a piece of software does is down right silliness. Almost everyone knows that the USPTO (the agency that issues patents and trademarks) is down right incompetent in regards to issuing class 705 patents in the areas of computing and ecommerce. So for I've found numerous patents that are dangerously ambiguous and blanket a technology so broadly that it's a wonder the internet and computing industry still exists. I found patents that covered subjects like: blinking text in a shopping cart (as pretty as it is, you can't use it now), displaying a sub total for items ordered, using red colored text to indicate a final price displayed, and someone that never invented anything to do with the online finance, banking or credit card systems recieved a patent that blankets all transfers of financial funds from one networked device to another... which basically puts the internet and the banking systems under the control of one person for a technology that we all take for granted: online banking, online shopping, etc. Scary right? Well now image this, they have sued 30+ companies and all but 8 have capitulated before the trial date. These are not small companies either, this is a host of who's who in payment processing and online commerce, including our largest banks, online auction sites, and online payment processors. The going rate for royalties is between 2 and 8 cents per transaction. Imagine one company that does 2 million transactions per day times 4 cents and that adds up to around $80,000 per day to a patent troll. Add in the fact that 20+ companies have already settled prior to court. You do the math. So, now our only hope for being saved by 8 remaining companies the might have the deep pockets to save us all from this patent troll, okay maybe just those of us that frequent the internet regularly. Maybe we should pressure our political leaders to overhaul the USPTO and the patent re-examination process (which is already being considered).So, what do you envision when you read the phrase "Our Patented Technology" in the first 7 or so words of a product or service description? I, for one, envision a trap that if the company offers inferior service, there are no competitors with similar products to turn to. On an addional point, such a phrase looks very self indulgent and offers no worth to a consumer. Afterall, as a customer, what does a patent do for me other than limiting my consumer based choices?My only comment to any buiness that uses the phrase "Out Patented Technology" as a portion of a selling point: Drop the line bozo, put your hands in the air and turn yourself in at the nearest marketing school. You need a lot of help.This phrase only pleases CEOs that spent company resources securing the silly patent in the first place and consequently love the sound of saying such a phrase to their investors. It's a useless phrase in marketing your services or products to an end consumer, at least every implementation I've seen in the last 20 years has been.It's been a long while since I last reported any progress on AgoraCart version 5.0.0 development; mainly due tothe fact I was sick for about 2 weeks.So, I'm happy to report that I have now completed the new templates and button sets. Now store admin can select a preconfigured template or one that they have uploaded to a custom template directory. Then they can select a button set. This is all designed as drop-in and play so that the template manager will find the new templates and button sets in real time the next time it's reloaded and/or accessed after the items have been uploaded to the appropriate store directories.The custom layouts and headers still work and if needed, are placed in the original directory so they can be found for each product category that one desires to have a custom header/footer style for.This also ties into the new CSS manager, where the style sheet for the template can be edited within that manager.Another detail is that the new templates, appropriately named "TheAgora", are CSS & HTML 4.01 compliant.This new system also allows designers to submit buttonsets and header/footer templates to the AgoraCart community that will be easy to implement for most folks that can atleast use FTP in some form or another. Another version will come soon that will allow a tarball to be uploaded and installed via a manager interface