Hardly off-topic, if you're using Perl you're using open software. Patents can, and will, kill open source software if the world continues down the path of the United states. Do you really think corporations like Microsoft, Oracle, and others will sit around and watch their demise? They have weapons, and they will use them. If you think I exaggerate do nothing and see what happens, but you'll be the only one to blame when your precious free software is no more.

This is a well organized effort that will raise awareness and influence those who end up making the decisions. Even if you're not in the EU I strongly urge you to contribute to their cause in some form, it will have an effect in your country as well.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.