When the legal system places an obstacle in the form of a restriction or requirement, the law may provide a possible workaround. Laws intended to tap into what may seem to be deep pockets may lead to what are at least temporary solutions such as: • Since "most French workplace laws affect businesses with 50 or more employees... many French companies opt to employ only 49 people in avoidance of crippling legislations." • An injunction against
Microsoft regarding XML features and an
easy technical workaround, a patent attorney suggested having two versions of MS Word, one with and one without the feature.
Acronyms Some well-known acronyms were created to work around bureaucratic or contracting restrictions: •
PDP - The term was used to describe a computer by another name, due to contracting complications for purchasing or leasing computers. The term PDP (Programmed Data Processor or Programmable Data Processor) was a workaround. The name "PDP" intentionally avoids the use of the term "computer". PDPs were aimed at a market that could not afford larger computers. •
GNU -
GNU's
Not
UNIX. As AT&T's prices for academic licensing and use of
UNIX increased, new restrictions on maximum number of concurrent users and limitations on types of use created a motivation for an alternative: a work-alike workaround. Among the better known ones are: •
Linux •
BSD •
System V •
PSAP. By contrast with
hearing aids, the sale of which is more regulated and more expensive, a
Personal
Sound
Amplification
Product (PSAP) is lower in price albeit more limited in capability. == See also ==