The operators simply give away boxes with generic software that TiVo's lawyers for years have been alleging infringes on its patents.

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Neither worked out, probably because the open source software stack is not as generic and interchangable as the operating system.

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With the software update, the generic images come out looking like a grown-up version of the kid from the video game Paperboy.

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Based on technology from Silicon Valley start-up Generic Media, the software can display images at between four and 10 frames per second.

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Currently, there are more than 700 body scanners at about 165 airports, all with Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) software, which display items on a generic body outline.

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This echoes arguments made by drug firms against makers of generic drugs. (Never mind that innovation in software tends to occur in universities and start-ups, not big firms.) Microsoft is advancing it through a lobby group, the Initiative for Software Choice, hoping to dissuade governments from using open-source software.

ECONOMIST: Software