Cmv: software should not be patentable.:
I am a professional Software Engineer working for some of the big boys in the software field. 

Software should never be able to be patented (just Copywrighted) this includes software algorithims

* Most software algorithms are not non-obvious (Shopping cart, sorting a deck of cards)
* Software Algorithms for more complicated stuff (Compression Algorithm, communication standards etc etc) are also obvious to people in the field. (JPEG compression concepts are well understood by anyone who knows anything about compression (DCT, Run-length encoding etc etc) the only thing that should be protectable is the final product. 

* It doesnt give a meaningful edge to any company other than to extort and complicate the creation of new products. 

* most meaningful software used is open sourced, what companies pay for is the specialized tailoring that is done to build a custom application; again your product is protectable by copyright not patent. 