MS rules

[Mario Saturno]

Giannis Stoilis wrote:
> Γιώργος Κεραμίδας wrote:
> 
>> "The page you requested cannot be found."
> 
> 
> Γνωστό και ως "slashdot effect". ;-)
> 
> 
> - Γιάννης Στοΐλης
> 
> 

Yeap, o stoilis to piase :P

Hmm kata periergo tropo enw mexri exthes to link litourgouse twra ontws, 
exei ena megalo 404. Tha kanw copy pate to text gia osous xasane
ta beraking news apo to url-> 
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/06/03/microsoft/

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Microsoft granted patent on button click timing
By David Legard, IDG News Service
June 03, 2004 7:25 am ET

Microsoft Corp. has been granted a patent relating to the use of buttons 
on hardware devices that form part of a user interface.

U.S. patent 6,727,830, granted April 27, is described as a "time-based 
hardware button for application launch." The patent abstract goes on to 
explain that the patent relates to how different functions can be 
invoked depending on whether a button is clicked once, clicked and held 
down for a period of time, or double-clicked within a short period of time.

A Microsoft spokesman confirmed that the patent was granted by the U.S. 
Patent and Trademark Office to Microsoft and that it was developed by 
employees working in the company's Pocket PC group. He couldn't say 
whether or not the patent applied to desktop applications, or how 
Microsoft planned to enforce the patent.

The patent mainly concerns handheld computing devices that come with a 
set of application buttons, according to the patent description:

"In the past, the actuation of an application button caused an 
application to be launched in a particular state, for example a view 
state. The user was required to take further steps to invoke additional 
application functionality, such as opening a document. It is desirable 
to more easily launch applications in various states. The present 
invention is directed to increasing the functionality of application 
buttons so as to accomplish this result," the patent reads.

Jeff Norman, an intellectual property partner with the Chicago law firm 
Kirkland Ellis LLP, said that the patent appeared to cover "the time 
dimension to a click."

"Depending on how long you hold the button, that would define a 
different set of applications," he said. "It could be used, for example, 
in a voice recorder. Instead of launching the application, the voice 
recorder software could know to begin recording if the user clicked and 
held down on the click."

Late last year, Microsoft began demanding royalty payments for the use 
of its FAT (file allocation table) system, for which it was granted a 
patent in 1996. A group called the Public Patent Foundation in April 
called for that patent to be revoked, claiming that this amounted to an 
abuse of monopoly power by Microsoft.

"Microsoft is using its control over the interchange of digital media to 
aid its ongoing effort to deter competition," the group said. "The ... 
patent is causing immeasurable injury to the public by serving as a tool 
to enlarge Microsoft's monopoly while also preventing competition."

(Robert McMillan in San Francisco contributed to this story.)

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bye