In New Zealand, a Patents Bill is about to pass into law. Once it does, software will be unpatentable in that fine country. I say it’s a fine country, not because I’ve been there, but because everyone I’ve met who’s been there says so, and there are hobbits (none of whom I’ve met), and… there will be no software patents.
That’s currently the top story on Reddit, in the form of a nicely balanced article by Paul Matthews of the New Zealand Computer Society. By “nicely balanced” I mean that he and I are on the same side, but that he makes a good effort to prevent the opposing case.