Something Old, Something New

Something things change for the better, other things change — well — let's say for other motives. By that I mean some companies offer upgrades (I believe) only to enhance their pocketbooks. This practice is not new. For example; automobile companies have been doing it for years. The "keep up with the Jone's" syndrome is a very effective marketing tool.

Some of the recent "upgrades" offer little improvement. Many of them seem to be at the "end of the line. There comes a point where you must move on to "bigger and better things" (sorry about the clichés). Unfortunately, some old standby companies are struggling for direction and seem unable to find a niche. Corel WordPerfect is a perfect example.

I attended a WordPerfect briefing at COMDEX last October and it was disheartening to see only about ten people there. I remember when you had to elbow you way in to a WordPerfect presentation. They recently released their Office 2001. Did you hear anything about it? I presume that Corel thought they were branching out when they bought WordPerfect, and perhaps they were, but it's tough to beat Microsoft when they are holding all the cards!

Internet Explorer is another example. Netscape found itself unable to hold on to their niche market when the Microsoft Juggernaut appeared. Even die-hard Microsoft haters are now switching to IE because some things will not display correctly when using Netscape. You can't even access some Internet sites unless you use IE!

With the new offering from Microsoft, Windows XP, I am sure some smaller companies will be faced with extinction. One thing is for certain, Microsoft is not standing still! If you want to survive, you had better get out of the way, sell out, superbly innovate, or grab onto Windows as it rolls past and hope for the best.

Even the Federal Government is in a paradoxical situation regarding Mr. Gates company. Microsoft is so ubiquitous that any action taken against them sends the stock market plunging. It will really be interesting to see if the government really forces Microsoft to split up. Personally, I don't think that action will be effective, but only time will tell (another chiché.)

Building "Blocks" . . .

Recently I have been building a new computer. Frankly, I really don't need one, but I wanted to try my hand at constructing one.

Being a champion of the underdog, I decided to use an Athlon processor. Their prices have come way down recently, and I couldn't resist buying a 1 gig CPU. Thereupon started the tale of my building "blocks."

The first problem was that the processor would not run at the advertised speed. I took it back, had it checked, and it was defective. (My thanks to Tim and Software & More for their quick resolution of the problem). The second "block:" The new processor ran at the advertised speed, but strange things began to happen. The only happening I can describe accurately is the freezing of the computer after only about two or three minutes use. Even my guru friends were at a loss to solve the problems. Guess what? I took it back, had it checked, (thanks again to Tim and Software and More) and the motherboard was defective! I felt I was jinxed, so . . . this time, I let them repair it. After all, if anything else was defective, I would have no replacements on hand to "switch them out."

Wonders of wonders the new computer now works! However, I did have to do some tweaking of the bios in order to get Windows 2000 to run. All programs ran well under Windows 98, but for some reason, Adobe products did not want to run in Windows 2000.

At first, I speculated that there was some kind of conspiracy afoot. After all, it was rather strange that the second largest computer companies' products had trouble with Windows 2000, but, as I stated previously, I tweaked the bios and everything is now working well (so far). Will let you know if I have any more problems.

Despite all the building "blocks," it was fun, enlightening and rewarding to build my own computer. Unfortunately, it was also frustrating — on how many occasions would you get a defective CPU and motherboard at the same time?

Now comes the fun of loading in all the programs.

What the heck is Windows XP? I first heard Microsoft was calling it XP for experienced. Experienced!! Experienced at what? My wife tells me she heard it stands for extra protection.

After all the speculation that Windows XP might not ship until next spring or might be held up because of potential conflicts with the Xbox game machine introduction or might...well, you get the idea, Microsoft finally set a date.

It's official: Windows XP will ship October 25th at least as of this writing (2:07 p.m. PT on Friday). I know this because they sent little digital clocks out set to count down the days, hours, and minutes until XP ships. Think you have a lot of pressure at work? If XP fails to ship as promised, all of Microsoft's influentials presumably now have a clock to tell them exactly how late the new OS becomes. At least I presume the clock starts counting up once it reaches the release time.

And if the little clocks sitting on desktops all over the country weren't enough, Microsoft has erected a large countdown clock at its Redmond, Wash., corporate campus...where visitors and employees alike can be reminded what awaits them when the ticking stops. (Want a clock of your own? Microsoft has one on its official Windows XP site.)

With Microsoft having put a big hunk of corporate credibility on the line, I think we can expect to either see XP in stores as promised or a fair number of Microsoft execs "retiring" if it doesn't. But the big challenge isn't getting XP out the door, it's getting people to buy it.

I really think Microsoft is trying to create a great product, and I have the beta, It really does improve the experience of using a computer, especially for inexperienced users.

The help system in Windows XP is significantly improved over Windows 98. Help resources are easier to find, and it's possible for a support person (or friend) to log on to your machine remotely to fix a problem for you.

Windows Media Player 8 is an improvement over 7, especially in that it now plays DVDs. The operating system does a better job of supporting digital cameras and printing pictures without the need for additional software.

But I don't think that will get you to line up outside the store hours before the official release, the way people did with Windows 98, just to get one of the first copies of the new OS. Nor will the new user interface; it's an improvement over the old one, but it's really a bigger deal for new users than for people who already know their way around a PC.

The most important thing about XP is stability. XP really is more stable than Windows 98 or Millennium Edition (Me). Maybe even a touch more stable than Windows 2000, though I can't find anyone who will swear to it.

Should you upgrade? If you are running Windows Me, the operating system that seemed to escape from Microsoft last summer, you need to upgrade to XP because XP will know how to upgrade an Me machine (Windows 2000 doesn't) and because Me, well, sucks.

There is probably going to be some fallout from unhappy Me users who will be cautious about XP based on recent experience. Some Me users will doubtless feel Microsoft is coming back to the public trough again too soon--which could also put a damper on XP upgrade sales.

Windows 2000 users probably can upgrade--mostly to get improved multimedia and game support--but may want to delay until all the drivers they need have been updated for XP, if that proves necessary.

If you're running Windows 95, it's probably on a machine that's not powerful enough for XP, so you're out of the running. (Hint: XP might provide a good reason to get rid of that old PC for a new one).

Windows 98 users face the issues of expense and whether they want to mess around with a machine that does or does not work well enough already.

I would recommend 256MB of ram for XP boxes, and more if you can afford it. Memory is cheap right now, so this would be a good time to invest, whether or not you later decide to hop on the XP bandwagon. While I'm impressed by XP very much, I am not willing to recommend mass migration to the new OS. Microsoft hasn't made a compelling case for Windows 98 users to make the switch. Since upgrading is likely to cost $150 or more in combined hardware and software, Microsoft needs to offer more than just stability in return.

Is stability the only big selling point for XP? No, but I watched some people move to ME just for a new Media Player. I would upgrade if Microsoft gave me the new system along with a letter of apology for all the previous lockups and blue screens, and a promise to do better in the future. Perhaps the Dept. of Justice would consider that an act of contrition.

That won't happen, but the point is Microsoft needs more than just a new Media Player and Internet Explorer 6 to make the XP upgrade sale. Yes, you need Windows XP, but Microsoft needs to find a way to make you want it. And for that it only has until October 25^th

While we're picking on Microsoft does anyone really know about Microsoft's new licensing policy? I went to

Microsoft's web site and downloaded the following

How Piracy Impacts You
Microsoft Product Activation

Microsoft is committed to the protection of intellectual property rights and to the reduction of software piracy worldwide. With the release of the Office XP family of products in May 2001, we are introducing Microsoft® Product Activation technology worldwide. This technology is aimed at reducing piracy (the number of illegal copies of the product) as well as ensuring that our customers are receiving the quality that they expect.

Over time, reduced piracy means that the software industry can invest more in product development, quality and support. This ensures better products and more innovation for customers.

Ultimately, customers will benefit from the economic impact of reduced piracy through more jobs and higher wages. Customers will also receive the best value for their software investment by being able to receive updates, product information, etc.

The Activation Wizard also helps unsuspecting customers from purchasing counterfeit software. Customers who purchase counterfeit products could find they are missing key elements, such as user manuals and product identifications, Certificates of Authenticity and even software code. They may also find that the counterfeit software contains viruses or does not work as well as the genuine product.

How will Activation affect you?

Retail Customers:

Retail customers will be required to activate each copy of Office XP subsequent to installation. Activation is an anonymous and simple process requiring very little effort on your part. You will have the option of activating via the Internet or by phone and the only required information is the country from which you are activating. If you choose to activate via the Internet, the product will take care of most of the work and will require very little participation on your part. If you choose phone activation, you can call the activation center for your region and the Customer Service Representative will assist you with the process. You will not be required to provide any personal information. However, if you choose, you may decide to register your Microsoft software at the same time to be able to receive future information about Microsoft updates and offerings.

To make this process more convenient, the product will allow up to 50 launches of the applications before requiring activation. However, if you don't activate within the first 50 launches, the product will allow only viewing and printing of files. It is important to note that nothing is done to your documents; the reduced functionality is temporary and will be completely restored upon activation.

Volume License Customers:

Microsoft Product Activation for Volume License Customers, including Open, Select and Enterprise Agreement customers, will require the input of a Volume License Product Key when installing product from volume license media for all Office components and Visio® Product. To obtain your Volume License Product Key, you will need to contact the Microsoft Activation Center for your region. For more information about Volume License Product Keys or to find the phone number for your region's Microsoft Activation Center, go to http://www.microsoft.com/business/licensing and click on the Volume License Product Key link.

It is important to remember that the Volume License Product Key is assigned to your company or institution and is intended for your sole use. You should keep your Volume License Product Key secure and distribute it only to employees or third parties authorized to install and distribute licenses pursuant to the terms of your agreement. Your company may be held responsible for unauthorized use of your Volume License Product Key.

One additional change to note is that Retail product CDs (i.e. boxed product purchased from a retail outlet) can no longer be used for multiple product installations. Select, MSDN®, and Worldwide Fulfillment (WWF) media are the only media available for multiple installations. These media will require the use of a Volume License Product Key that will be assigned to your company or institution, as documented above."

Did anyone understand what they're doing Did you notice the part that says you won't be asked for any personal information? Somewhere in another article it states "you'll only have to give the country you're in." I read that, but I don't believe it.

For that last Five years one of the busiest booths at Comdex is the Software Publishers booth. The sign at that booth reads " DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY! HELP STAMP OUT SOFTWARE PIRACY." Microsoft is making the big push to get rid of piracy. We all read the stories about them coming into town and closing businesses for not following Microsoft's policy on sales. I followed up on one of those stories. It was pure "Brahma B___." I think the licensing procedures Microsoft has started will change the way people buy and use software. Sure they'll still sell to the big enterprises. Those guys have the clout to set the policy any way they want it and it's you and me it's going to effect. Whether the effect is good or bad still remains to be seen.

Microsoft will present at the next meeting. Let's ask the Rep about the policies and how they will affect us. In the past they've been pretty straight with us. Of course I'm not counting the demo of ME!!. Maybe we'll get the straight scope. If I don't remember to ask about this, will someone remind me.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday evening.

Later

Dave

by James Alexander

Attacked, Hacked, and Violated?

May issue, I was not able to deliver an article for the magazine. You may have heard, that I and my family joined the ranks of crime victims. I was so involved with the police, insurance, and recovery procedures that I could not think of a topic, much less getting motivated to write articles. This lack of motivation (depression) was increased upon discovering that the crime case had been closed on the day of the theft. The reason for the closure no leads for identifying the criminal(s). Years ago, a journalist had given me some advise about how to write despite whenever writers' block occurs. That is, write about what you know or have experienced.

Our home was burglarized, resulting in the theft of our car, checkbook, and some identification documents. Financially, the car's loss, recovery, and repair was the largest portion of our direct expenses. However the checkbook and the identification was possibly just as expensive, but the costs were spread out to the customers (that is you and me) of K-Mart, 7-11, Albertsons, and several other businesses where the stolen checks were used for merchandise purchases. Within 24 hours of the theft, the checks stolen were reported and canceled. Seven days later, one of the stolen checks resulted in a felony arrest and pending prosecution. However, the other checks were not fun. Collection calls and credit agencies (calling to harass us for the bounced stolen checks) were sorted out, after a lot of paper work and multiple copies of police and banking reports were made and sent. I was amazed to discover how many of the stolen checks had been passed with the stolen drivers' license. I became very concerned over the real threat of Identity Theft/Fraud. I then started on a journey of learning about this new type of crime, and how computers are used to steal or use identities.

How does identity theft impact you personally? Most of us have some credit protection, and if reported early, we have little direct costs. But the indirect costs can mount up, such as the inconvenience and time involved with replacing or repairing your damaged credit. Even if you are not a direct victim, all of us pay extra for crimes, because retailers must add in the cost of theft and fraud as part of their business pricing. Thus you have two examples of identity fraud and theft and how you and I pay for it.

Late April 2001, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products announced plans to sue four Korean banks and former head of its South Korean division for theft by fraud of more than $100 million. The banks had factored (made loans) for the amounts of a series of faked high-volume software sales. It was a complex internal fraud. Employees at the Korean unit posed as either customers or created fictitious customers (Identity Fraud) and plotted with the banks to create false sales transactions in order to meet high sales goals, earning hefty bonuses for those involved (the former CEO of the Korean unit received a $25 million bonus). The advance payments by the banks helped L&H's managers in Korea to fool the company's auditors into believing that the sales were bona fide. These fake sales when discovered caused L&H to cancel 47 contracts worth $114 million. Other contracts worth an additional $79 million might be subject to claims from customers because L&H "did not deliver products." The Korean unit and missing cash of about $100 million when discovered created the financial and criminal problems that resulted in: L&H bankruptcy filings in both the U.S. and Belgium; the arrest and criminal charges against (non-Korean) L&H's founders and management; law suits from several creditors, shareholders, and partners; and pending now the sale of the entire business. How does this impact us? The largest holder of computer speech recognition and automated translation technology (remember, L&H bought Dragon) in the world is now up for grabs at a price under its true worth. Only a few businesses would have the reserves

needed, however, to make this bargain purchase. Speech technology could become the sole property of a monopoly, and pricing as well as advancement of the technology could become highly controlled. This will mean higher prices and lower quality for us.

The second example is Identity Theft. In December, an Arizona woman got a telephone call from a company in Seattle telling her the credit card she had used to buy a leather jacket had been declined. She was asked if she wanted to use another card to make the purchase. The lady asked where the product was supposed to be shipped to - Yugoslavia. She wasn't surprised by the call, because she had canceled the card after being alerted by eBay that someone had tried to use her card to make almost $600 in purchases and have them shipped to Yugoslavia. She was one of 139 customers of on-line baby products retailer Babygear.com whose credit card data was stolen from that site in September and traced to a hacker in Yugoslavia.

Several on-line businesses have had their sites hacked or attacked in the last six months. The attacks, particularly DoS or DDoS, costs business lost revenues and customers who cannot get into the site during a DoS attack. A few companies have been attacked and hacked, losing not only customers, but in some cases closing their business down entirely. The Arizona lady was fortunate as she had some notice about improper use of her credit card information that had been stolen from Babygear.com, Babygear however is in bankruptcy. One of Amazon.com's businesses was similarly hacked, and likewise suffered business losses. The problem with some of these lost businesses is that they were either the best source or best pricing for the products offered.

Hackers are no longer cute, never were.

People get hurt daily by Identity Theft, but it is rare the criminal is apprehended. The problem is that so often the criminal is not personally known by the victim. There are few or no clues as to who stole the identity and then who is committing the identity fraud. Because of this, my stolen checks and car case was closed the day it was submitted. The problem in the case of Babygear.com was that the theft was not significant enough to warrant the investigative resources. To me, personally, that just adds pain to the injury.

However, sometimes things do work for the victims. 23 May 2001 The FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) announced criminal charges against approximately 90 individuals and companies as part of a nationwide series of investigations into Internet fraud, code named "Operation Cyber Loss." The fraud schemes exposed as part of this operation represents over 56,000 victims who suffered cumulative losses in excess of $117 million. The fraudulent schemes were wide-ranging and included non-delivery of merchandise ordered over the Internet, unauthorized use of credit cards, phony job opportunities with "application" fees, and fraudulent - loans, investments, and ponzi or pyramid schemes, in which investors are promised high profits.

"The Internet is a perfect medium for which `fraudsters' can reach a large number of people and maintain a cloak of secrecy over their identity," said Thomas Kubic, FBI deputy assistant director at a Congressional hearing. Theft of data stored in business systems is playing a role, officials said. "Time and time again, criminals have demonstrated their ability to obtain information from businesses" on the Internet, said Bruce Townsend, special agent in charge of the financial crimes division of the U.S. Secret Service. "It has become a frightening reality that one individual can literally take over another individual's financial ID without the true victim's knowledge."

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) became operational on May 8, 2000. Victims of Internet crime are able to go directly to the IFCC website at http://www.ifccfbi.gov, to submit their complaint information, relieving considerable frustration for them in trying to determine which law enforcement agency should receive a complaint. Also, according to Attorney General John Ashcroft, "Just as neighborhood watch programs keep watch over their neighborhoods and report suspicious activity to law enforcement, Internet users now have a `cyber community watch' program. When individual citizens, businesses, and consumer agencies work with law enforcement at all levels, we help ensure the safety and security of the Internet."

Next month I will discuss more about this and include several helps and hints for standing up and protecting yourself from Identity Theft/Fraud.

Till next time you drop by the Back Porch, have a good time. And remember, help another PC user out whenever you can. Send questions or subjects you would like a Back Porch opinion to jamesucs@jps.net

Welden did it again!

Last month's general meeting was a huge success due to the animated antics of the Guru of Click, Welden Andersen. The intelligent facades exhibited at the meeting demonstrated the incredible knowledgeable content contained in this digital photo presentation. All members focused their attention on the subjects, filtered the content and shuttered to think what would develop if they didn't.

All kidding aside it was a superb, informative meeting.

The Meeting started with the usual comments by the differing groups within Blue Chips, offering advice, stating facts or changes, and reporting on their events.

Also presenting at the meeting were Jens Nielsen and Les Nilsson from PictureLine. They showed many high end digital cameras and the features they contained.

They stated a well known fact that the Macintosh computer dominates the high end digital graphics field. Also, Adobe Photoshop is the choice of software professionals.

The session extended beyond our normal time limit as many questions were asked. However, no one seemed to mind because of the extremely informative aspects of the presentation.

Learn a New word a day...

Arbitrator \ar' -bi-tray-ter\ A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonald's.

Avoidable \uh-voy' -duh-buhl\ What a bullfighter tries to do

Baloney \buh-lo' -nee\ Where some hem lines fall

Bernadette \burn' -a-det\The act of torching a mortgage

Burglarize \bur' -gler-ize\What a crook sees with

Control \kon-trol'\ A short, ugly inmate

Counterfeiters \kown-ter-fit-ers\ Workers who put together kitchen cabinets

Eclipse \e-klips'\ What an English barber does for a living

Eyedropper \i' -drop-ur\ A clumsy ophthalmologist

Heroes \hee' -rhos\ What a guy in a boat does.

Misty \mis' -tee\ How golfers create divots

Paradox \par' -u-doks\ Two physicians

Parasites \par' -uh-sites\ What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower

Pharmacist \farm' -uh-sist\ A helper on the farm.

Polarize \po' -lur-ize\ What penguins see with

Relief \ree-leef'\ What trees do in the spring

Primate \pri' -mat\ Removing your spouse from in front of the TV

Rubberneck \rub' -er-nek\ What you do to relax your wife

Seamstress\seem' -stress\ Describes 200 pounds in a size two

Selfish \sel' -fish\ What the owner of a seafood store does

Subdued \sub-dood'\ A guy that works on one of those submarines

Sudafed \sood' -a-fed\ Bringing litigation against a government official

Top Ten Things Only Women Understand:

10. Why it's good to have five pairs of black shoes.

9. The difference between cream, ivory and off-white.

8. Crying can be fun.

7. FAT CLOTHES.

6. A salad, diet drink and a hot fudge Sunday make a balanced lunch.

5. Discovering a designer dress on the clearance rack can be considered a peak life experience.

4. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.

3. A good man might be hard to find, but a good hairdresser is next to mpossible.

2. Why a phone call between two women never lasts under ten minutes.

AND THE NUMBER ONE THING ONLY WOMEN UNDERSTAND;

1. OTHER WOMEN!

THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet! [I wonder who counted...Probably someone with too much time and money on his hands.]

During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants! [Why don't we all just eat 6 elephants and be done with it?]

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they cant find any food! [The whole subject is Eeeeeewwww!]

Dolphins sleep with one eye open! [Definitely too much government funding and time on their hands.]

More people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones! [Probably because they MAKE more blue ones than red ones.]

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe! [Now I'm going to be thinking of that every time I breath.]

Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue! [Now, how would anyone know that? Did they `pop' out an eye and attach an owl eye in its place?]

The average American/Canadian drinks about 600 sodas a year! [What is an average American/Canadian? Someone must drink 1200 sodas a year to make up for few 2 or 3.]

There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses! [They all look the same to me.]

Honeybees have a type of hair on their eyes! [Too much time and government funding again!]

In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons!

A jellyfish is 95 percent water! [And the ocean is 100% water. If it isn't, neither is the jellyfish 95% water.]

The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs! [No wonder they're always in the past tense. I've never heard of a katydo.]

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world! [And is worth just about as much.]

Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States! [I wonder where someone got the idea to check THAT one out.]

One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet! [No wonder they hurt so much!]

America once issued a 5-cent bill! [Now we get bills for hundreds and thousands of dollars every year, courtesy of the IRS.]

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different! [I wouldn't like to meet the guy who came up with THAT idea. I hope he doesn't try to prove it in MY house.]

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool! He changed it every 2 innings! [Well, quite frankly, my dear.....]

A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years! Wow! [You mean someone trailed him around for 69 years to make sure? Must have been an IRS agent.]

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! [And who says PBS is full of useless information?]

Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung! [Well, the Chinese make them now.]

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying! [That's one I haven't tried yet. Wearing glasses usually work for me.]

Becoming a Patent Attorney

People have asked how one becomes a patent attorney. Some are looking for a good career for themselves or their kids, while others are curious about the differences between patent attorneys and other attorneys. I've outlined below some of the steps I believe are most important. If you would like to learn more about becoming a patent attorney, feel free to contact me.

1. Earn a college degree in science or engineering. An attorney who is not a patent attorney may have a degree in political science, history, economics, English, or another subject in the humanities. By contrast, a patent attorney normally has a degree in a technical subject such as physics, chemistry, or biology. For instance, I have a master's degree in computer science. It is hard (but not impossible) to get permission to take the patent bar exam unless you have a college degree in science or engineering.

2. Enjoy writing, and learn to do it well. Practicing patent law involves either a lot of writing (if you focus on enforcing patents) or an enormous amount of writing (if you focus on obtaining patents). Some of the writing is technical documentation that merely needs to be clear, correct, and reasonably complete. Some of it, like briefs or certain parts of a patent, is marketing material that needs to be both fair and persuasive. But almost all of your writing will be tailored to specific circumstances, so the more you enjoy it and do it, the better it will be.

3. Earn a law degree. Actually, this is not a requirement if you want to be a patent agent rather than a patent attorney. Patent agents prepare patent applications and guide them through the Patent Office, but do not represent patent owners in court. Patent agents also cannot give legal advice regarding copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, licenses, or other non-patent topics.

4. Pass a state bar examination. I list this to point out that patent attorneys must pass two bar examinations (see #5), while other attorneys only need to pass one.

5. Pass the patent bar examination. Passing a state bar exam allows an attorney to practice almost any type of law in that state, except patent law. To represent people before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) you must pass the patent bar exam administered by the USPTO. The patent bar exam tests skills such as patent claim drafting, and knowledge such as the rules governing when a patent may be obtained. Approximately one million people in the United States have passed at least one state bar exam, but only about 50,000 people have been registered to practice by the USPTO. Because many early registrants have now retired and some registrants are agents, only a small percentage of all attorneys are also patent attorneys.

6. Learn from more experienced patent attorneys. Work at a firm, read books and cases and Internet postings, and ask questions. Some of their lessons are merely personal preferences, but some are valuable and hard to learn without their help.

7. Serve your clients well. Law is a both business and a licensed profession. You have duties to your clients, to the court, to the USPTO, to the public, to your employees, to your loved ones, and to yourself (not necessarily in that order). You will be called on daily to balance competing interests such as quality, reasonable cost, prompt delivery, effectiveness, profitability, accessibility, public service, candor, personal interests, and many others. The best rule of thumb I've found is to serve as well as you can both the immediate and long-term needs of your clients.