Apple Files Patent for Translucent Windows

jpkunst writes "John Kheit at Mac Observer reports on US Patent Application No. 20040090467, published on May 13, 2004, in which Apple filed a patent application for 'Graduated visual and manipulative translucency for windows.'" Begin the hunt for prior art! It's a challenge to find a non-Apple translucent window that isn't just a snippet of desktop wallpaper pasted in the background.

Comments

Glass2k

[Perdo]

http://www.chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml

Prior art, cut-n-paste

Featured in a slashdot article

http://slashdot.org/articles/01/11/25/233238.sht ml

Novemer 26 2001

3 years Prior art.

Weird X

[james b]

Weird X could do translucent windows back in 2000 - and this is real translucency, where 'covered' windows keep updating visibly, even through multiple layers of cover.

I actually ran this for a while, until it drove me crazy :).

How many slashdotters...

[shish]

Q) How many slashdotters does it take to point out that the patent isn't on translucency, but *time dependant* translucency.
A) I count 20 so far, mostly modded "insightful", and not one of them modded "redundant"

I know it's a pain, but as well as reading the title of the story, try and read the first 5 or so comments to see that all 5 of them are discussing the point that you're just about to make. Please.

Re:Existence alone is bad enough

[Twirlip of the Mists]

This is nuts! I won't even start on the idea of crediting the mass hallucination of a "creator" with granting you ANYTHING.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.

I'm glad to know that your opinion of the fundamental concept underlying modern society is so high.

If you think you have any right outside the framework of government and society you have lived MUCH too sheltered a life.

Government exists to embody and protect those rights which we already have.

Why is this an important idea? Because if you start with the premise that government grants rights, then you end up with the conclusion that government can revoke rights. And that's not true at all. In fact, that idea, in a nutshell, is one of the great fallacies of history.

Everything you consider to be a god-given right granted to humans by their ever-lovin' creator can be taken away at the point of a gun.

Sure. But just because I'm denied my rights at the point of a gun doesn't mean they cease to be my rights. Just because I'm deprived of (let's say) liberty doesn't mean I'm no longer deserving of liberty.

If you break the law, we put you in jail. We, as a society, deprive you of your liberty, or in some occasions even your life. That doesn't mean we revoke your rights. It just means that you're being denied the free exercise of them because of what you've done. If, for instance, you are able to convince a judge or a governor that you are innocent of the charges of which you were convicted, you'll have your liberty restored. Because it was yours all along.

Didn't you take a political theory or a government or a civics class in junior high? I swear, your teacher covered all this. Weren't you paying attention?

You may think that you SHOULD have some particular right. You may believe that something should belong to you, or that beacuse you created it you should be able to control it, but the fact is you are not strong enough to force this view on everyone else, and there is no all-powerful creator to do it for you.

Ah, now we're into a completely different discussion. We've gone from "people have inherent rights" to "people disagree about what those rights are." That's certainly true. But underlying all of it is the fundamental agreement that we, as human beings, are possessors of certain rights simply by virtue of our living existence.

The only force that exists with enough power to grant or protect a right is the state.

I'm sorry that you feel that way. I'm sorry that you think your rights are given to you and taken from you by the state. Your life must be very sad.

(Those who are astute will notice that my position on this subject has evolved pretty dramatically over the past couple of years. The more you live, the more you learn.)