On Thu, Feb 26, 2004 at 10:38:46AM -0500, Bob Woodside wrote: > On Wed, 25 Feb 2004 07:55:11 -0700 > Michael Wilkinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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 ^_^ ^_^ -- Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL: http://www.fvwm.org/>. To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To report problems, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
