Posted on December 8th, 2005%
On December 6, 2005, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued Patent #6,973,669 to Microsoft. The patent is for “Pausing television programming in response to selection of hypertext link.”
Here is the crux of the patent’s claim:
In an interactive television system … a method for pausing the display of a television program that is displayed at the television system in response to a selection of a hyperlink that is displayed with the television program…
In other words, an on-screen pause button that you click on to pause, and subsequently resume, the program.
Where does this fail the patent test (useful, novel, non-obvious)?
It’s potentially useful, though I’d say a remote control with a pause button is many orders of magnitude more useful than clicking on a hyperlink.
It’s marginally novel — VCRs have been displaying on-screen pause indicators for years. The only difference is clicking on an on-screen hyperlink instead of a (more user-friendly) pause button.
It’s definitely . . .
→ Read More: Microsoft patents an on-screen pause button
Posted on September 4th, 2005%
(This is a follow-up to my previous post, One step closer to saying “Goodbye” to Microsoft, in which I describe my experience trying to rebuild my laptop.)
Well, the bootable Windows XP Pro CD provided from my Dell computer booted up fine and installed fine. This one requires you to activate the product online (within 30 days, of course). Fantastic, I figure I’m on the home stretch, as I have a valid Windows license.
I proceed to get the laptop back up to speed by installing the necessities from my MSDN subscription, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird, and Norton Anti-Virus. I’m starting to feel good again!
This morning, I decide to activate Windows (even though I have 29 days to go). I open the activation wizard and type the product key on that same sticker in the most inconvenient part of my laptop. This time I write it down on a piece of paper so as not . . .
→ Read More: One step closer to saying "Goodbye" to Microsoft (Part II)
Posted on September 2nd, 2005%
This morning, I turned on my laptop and heard an unpleasant grinding sound. I knew it wasn’t good; I’ve heard this sound before.
It was a hard drive failure.
The hard drive wouldn’t boot up at all. Fortunately, I do routine backups (to a server and to a 1GB USB flash drive), so I wasn’t overly concerned. I ran out to the local BestBuy, picked up a new 100GB notebook hard drive, and installed it in the laptop.
In my CD collection, I pulled out my trusty bootable Windows XP Professional CD, and proceeded to start the install…
Boot from CD… check
Create new partition… check
Quick format… check
Command install mode file copy… check
Reboot to GUI install mode… check
Type name and company… check…
Enter Windows XP Professional product key… PRODUCT ID INVALID.
Wait a minute… This is the Windows XP Professional product key on the laptop itself, that stupid Microsoft sticker usually placed in the most inconvenient spot for reading! I double-checked to make sure there were no typos.
PRODUCT . . .
→ Read More: One step closer to saying "Goodbye" to Microsoft
Posted on July 14th, 2005%
Microsoft signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Enterprises (the comic book folks), giving the software giant rights to use Marvel’s intellectual property in MMO (massive multiplayer online) games. Read about it on CNet.
This may sound like a good deal to Microsoft, or to fans of Marvel comics and MMOs, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Here’s why.
From the CNet article: “The deal is Marvel’s first MMO pact. The first title is expected in 2008.” We all know that really means 2009. That’s a long time away (although not a long time considering the development efforts required to produce an MMO), and a long time to wait when there’s already a superhero game on the market, City of Heroes, which is among the better MMO’s out there. (In fact, Marvel tried suing NCSoft, makers of City of Heroes, for copyright infringement. The suit flopped.)
Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), owners of the EverQuest franchise . . .
→ Read More: Microsoft and Marvel to sleep together (and other MMOG thoughts)
Posted on May 19th, 2005%
Back in April, I blogged on one of Microsoft’s stupid patents. (Arguably, it’s not Microsoft‘s stupidity, but the stupidity of the patent office in allowing such patents to be filed.) Well, they’ve done it again.
We all get email each day. In each email we get, we see email addresses that messages are sent from or to. It’s all rather simple and common. But Microsoft has patented a better solution:
The present invention is directed at a system and process for allowing a user to treat email addresses as objects. This allows easy manipulation of the email addresses, such as allowing them to be added to a contact list, copied to the computer’s clipboard, or double-clicked to open the related contact information for that email address sender. Email addresses are treated as objects in the message preview pane and full message windows of both incoming and outgoing email messages. [From United States Patent #6,895,426]
Ironically, if you’ve used Mozilla Thunderbird (which . . .
→ Read More: More stupid Microsoft Patents: U.S. Patent #6,895,426 – a direct attack against Thunderbird?
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