I dont see why people keep complaining about "stealing" other peoples ideas...
Really, waterblocks can only take so many shapes and be decent performers. You cant really blame honda for building, say, a car with a v-8 engine. It has been done many times before, but could you really accuse them of stealing a successful idea? There are only so many practical ways to build a waterblock and have it perform. It is the differences in execution that should be put under the chopping block for consumers. Even if another person/company utilizes an idea that has been established by another person/company, is that really wrong as long as they impliement it in a unique way?
This is really the best way for the consumers anyways. If a single producer manages to win a patent on a design, it is likely that there would be no competition for that particular unit and therefore leaves the consumer with the short straw. If the producer fails to implement the idea in a way that appeals to the public, then it is a total loss and the possibility of owning one is basically dead for the average consumer (a very bad thing for me at least
).
I see this kind of thing happening with Cathar's cascade. So far, I think that he is the only one who is producing that particular style block. Because he cannot mass produce these blocks (yet
), and because the cost is too high for the average joe to buy one (not to mention there arent any left), we are left with a demand without a supply. I'm sure if DTek were to begin making these things, people would be all up-in-arms about stealing Cathar's idea, but I guarentee those same people would be buying them like crazy.
A similar predicament happened at the beginning of microsoft. The original creator of DOS had a great idea, but no way to market his software. People accused Gates of being a thief, but really what he did was a great thing. Now we all have DOS and everyone is happy. Catch my drift kinda...sorta...maybe I'm just thinking through my keyboard again.