I was talking to a coworker about software patents, and he said they were terrible. Then I asked about non-software patents, and he thought they were absolutely necessary.

To be honest I don't see the difference. For any given complicated piece of hardware, you can build an equally complicated piece of software. For every simple software patent out there, there is an equally ridiculous non-software patent (e.g., foot-pedal washing sinks)

I think whatever your stance on the issue of patents is, you shouldn't treat software as a special case.