On Thu, Feb 26, 2004 at 10:38:46AM -0500, Bob Woodside wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 07:55:11 -0700
> Michael Wilkinson <mike_at_towerravens.com> wrote:
>
> > There is Microsoft Patent for a virtual desktop in the works, have you
> > guys seen this:
> >
> > http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220030189597%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20030189597&RS=DN/20030189597
>
> IANAL, as they say, but here are my initial observations on this patent
> application (the full text of the application may be grabbed in PDF form
> from http://www.pat2pdf.com/20030189597.pdf).
Thank you for that document, Bob.
> 1) This is, as yet, only an application, published after a standard 18
> month waiting period.
>
> 2) The "invention" claimed is a detailed description of Microsoft's
> MSVDM (Virtual Desktop Manager) component of their Power Tools
> collection for Windows XP. This is readily seen in the supporting
> artwork.
> 3) The application does not put a lock on the entire idea of
> virtual desktop cum pager. The supporting drawings acknowledge prior art
> in this area (albeit somewhat anonymously). You'll see recognizable KDE
> and GNOME panel images (complete with GNOME pager) on page 2 (Figs. 1A -
> 1C).
In any case, better we resist now to prevent the damage before it
is done.
> 4) So far as I can tell, the gist of the claimed invention is their
> method for interacting with the pager - zooming to full-screen, etc.
> While I consider this entirely too trivial, frivolous, and obvious to be
> worthy of a patent, I'm no patent expert (of course, I doubt that many
> patent experts are also software experts). They may well be able to get
> by with this one, though some of the individual claims may get denied or
> modified. This is the aspect that concerns me most, for fear of overly
> broad interpretations of the claims in the future, should the patent be
> granted.
>
> 5) This *may* well be a purely defensive patent application,
> to prevent some rapacious, litigation-happy company from charging them
> with IP violations for their MSVDM tool. They do have some history of
> being targeted by companies whose main product seems to be IP
> litigation.
Ciao
Dominik ^_^ ^_^
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Received on Thu Feb 26 2004 - 10:17:47 GMT