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). 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). 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. I'll be curious to see what the FSF's take on this is. Cheers, Bob -- 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]
