The word processor and the spreadsheet are the "killer apps" that kicked the personal computer into high gear in the 1980's. The acknowledged creators of the first spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, certainly are numbered among my personal heroes.

This past week, both of them weighed in on the current intellectual property discussion in ways that bespeak their shared and individual views. Mr. Bricklin posts an inspiring story, Learning from a Patent, about how a friend was able to build a geodesic dome from R. Buckminster Fuller's 1954 patent. As I'm in the midst of writing my second patent, I took heart from the old notion that intellectual property rights are meant to encourage and not impede advances.

Mr. Frankston must be paying heed to the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case before the U.S. Supreme Court. His writing, A Lack of Progress. seeks to refocus the intellectual property debate on what the founding fathers had in mind. That Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were inventors as well as politicians has always been of interest to me.

Also of interest is attorney Larry Lessig's interpretation, from the front line, of his own oral presentation representing Eldred before the court. The power of the internet to provide me with access to such great minds and their current thinking is nothing short of amazing.

Favorites: audiobooksforfree.com Director Breaks Microsoft Reader * Endian 1,2,3 * Worldwide Institute of Software Architects * about.com * howstuffworks.com * Janis Ian * GPS Tracker * New Yorker cartoon * David Coursey/Time * More ...