Microsoft Patents Timed Button Presses

ScooterB writes "According to TechDirt, Microsoft has patented having the action of a button determined by how long the button was pressed. From the patent listing, it seems to be targeted towards PDA's and other handhelds." Whether patents like this are the chicken or the egg, this relates to an MSNBC article submitted by prostoalex which says "United States Patent and Trademark Office is overwhelmed with incoming requests," and that "Unless the budgeting increases, the review process for a patent could double to 5 years."

Comments

How to fix the patent delay problem

[mabu]

Here's how the government can address the issue of the patent office being overwhelmed: Pass a law requiring that patent applicates be processed faster. *bingo* it's all fixed.

This seems to be the current trend. Never mind figuring out how to fund things or fixing the system, or improving existing processes. Let's just pass another low and magically expect everything to be fixed. It's worked with spam! It's worked with the war on terror and national security. Why not the USPTO?

Can you be more ignorant?

[TheConfusedOne]

The whole "war for oil" diatribe is just soooo yesterday. Since the whole UN Oil-For-Palaces (UNscam) fiasco has started blowing up in the faces of the UN, France, and Russia we see who was really pushing for oil in Iraq. None other than France with a deal negotiated for Total-Final-ELF that gave France profit margins unheard of in a normal deal. France's requirement, lifting sanctions on Iraq.

Obviously if you applied ANY critical thought to this you'd see that if we really wanted to control Iraq's oil we could have very easily cut a nice lucrative deal with Saddam, dropped the sanctions, and let by-gones be by-gones.

Of course we'd have to live with those profits to Iraq going to North Korea to buy long range missiles and those $25,000/suicide bomber payments that Hussein was making.

But hey, we're just a horribly corrupt county that is run by it's oil companies.

(Nothing like the UN that made $1.2 billion on the Oil-for-Food program in "administrative fees" and evidence suggesting that the head of the program received a couple of million dollars in oil vouchers as well.)

Microsoft is ALWAYS short on cash

[darkonc]

By definition: If there's money in this world, that they don't control, then they're 'short'.