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Microsoft Patents The Task List

Posted by timothy on from the insanity-is-actually-rather-pleasant dept.

theodp writes "'Better not get too fancy with your grocery list, now that Microsoft has patented a glorified form of the to-do list.' Issued Tuesday, the patent covers the use of a 'task list' generated from 'TODO' comments in source code."

35 of 730 comments (clear)

  1. Perfect Setup by Mz6 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Microsoft's "to-do" List:

    1. Patent double-clicks.
    2. Patent this list.
    3. ???
    4. Profit!!!

    --
    Hmmm.
    1. Re:Perfect Setup by Klanglor · · Score: 3, Funny

      TO-DO LIST UPDATED:

      3. Patent Profit*

      4. Rule the world**

      NOTE:

      *It will be unprofitable to try to make profit for anyone else than MS. Injunction, will be deposited as soon as you try to make money.

      **Patent the world if required.

    2. Re:Perfect Setup by lacheur · · Score: 2, Funny

      3. Patent Profit!

    3. Re:Perfect Setup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Sieg Heil!

  2. I wouldn't worry about your grocery list... by datastalker · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...unless you generate it from comments in your source code. ;)

    --
    Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
    1. Re:I wouldn't worry about your grocery list... by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny
      I wouldn't worry about your grocery list unless you generate it from comments in your source code. ;)

      It's so convenient to make notes in source code. Isn't that what our computers are for, to manage our data? Compare this
      need more jolt (emu.cpp line 2)
      pay electric bill (emu.cpp line 11)
      out of potato chips (emu.cpp line 24)
      with the verbose
      // start emulating a track
      // TODO: need more jolt
      assert( rom );

      // clear all memory
      cpu.low_mem.assign( 0 );
      sram.assign( 0 );
      eram.assign( 0 );
      unmapped_page.assign( 0 );

      // TODO: pay electric bill

      // set memory mapping

      // start out unmapped
      int i;
      for ( i = 0; i < page_count; ++i ) {
      cpu.data_reader [i] = read_unmapped;
      cpu.data_writer [i] = write_unmapped;
      cpu.code_map [i] = &unmapped_page [0];
      }

      // ROM
      // TODO: out of potato chips
      for ( i = 8; i < page_count; ++i ) {
      cpu.data_reader [i] = read_rom;
      int rom_bank = initial_banks [i - 8];
      cpu.code_map [i] = &rom [rom_bank * page_size];
      eram [0xFF0 + i] = rom_bank;
      }
      // ...
      Oh man, I need to pay my electric bill...
  3. Easy... by Karpe · · Score: 5, Funny

    3. Sue itself!

    1. Re:Easy... by mr+i+want+to+go+home · · Score: 5, Funny
      7. Kill yourself because your GIRLFRIEND is a fat virgin Slashdot troll who lives in YOUR basement =>

      Hehehe. Sorry. Couldn't resist. But it'll be worth it even for the negative mods.

    2. Re:Easy... by gilroy · · Score: 5, Funny
      Blockquoth the poster:

      It would be like trying to win a land war in China, you might suceed for a while but eventually the sheer mass of your opponent will wear you down.

      Next, I hear, Microsoft plans to go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line...
      --
      The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
    3. Re:Easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It may be easier than you think. According Bush, when you invade China, the chinese will hail you as a liberator freeing them from those commies. They will dance on the streets and give out moo goo gai pan. When the new CIA director is announced, they'll even tell you that China has WMD. Imagine that... China is a nuke power.

    4. Re:Easy... by loyalsonofrutgers · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't forget "invade Russia in the winter." That's always a classic.

    5. Re:Easy... by BaggedOutKen · · Score: 1, Funny

      In Winter ... Russia Invades YOU!

  4. Microsoft Hit & Miss by CHaN_316 · · Score: 5, Funny
    It feels like Microsoft just comes up with a list of things that have been implemented, and try to patent them. It's hit and miss, but boy, if you score one of the patents, great! If not, try try again... they've got the money to blow. All you have to do is inundate the patent office, and sooner or later, you'll hit the jackpot.

    Microsoft's latest patents:
    • Writing Code on a computer (rejected)
    • Coding on a computer (rejected)
    • Coding on an electronic medium (approved)
    • Uhh...the Internet? (rejected, Al Gore invented that)
    • The Internet (rejected)
    • Inter.Net (approved)
    • ...


    It's a lot like submitting a story for slashdot, but easier, and way more double posts :D j/k.
    --
    "There is no spoon." - The Matrix
    1. Re:Microsoft Hit & Miss by jeffy124 · · Score: 5, Funny

      you naysayer. Of course Al Gore invented the internet. It is, after all, based on Al-Gore-ithms.

      --
      The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  5. grep TODO *.c (of java, or obj-c, etc...etc...) by borgheron · · Score: 4, Funny

    There you have it folks. Patent infringment in one line.

    GJC

    --
    Gregory Casamento
    ## Chief Maintainer for GNUstep
    1. Re:grep TODO *.c (of java, or obj-c, etc...etc...) by lspd · · Score: 4, Funny

      for developers to locate errors and warnings in code, as well as specify user-defined tasks. The task list is updated in "real time" as the developer completes tasks and generates new tasks.

      while [ TRUE ] ; do sleep 1; grep ..blah blah.. ; done

  6. Re:Wasn't it in Eclipse first? by Atrax · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yup, definitely there in my copy of J++ 6.0

    yeah, I know. J++ 6.0. I feel suitably ashamed, thank you. ;-)

    --
    Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
  7. This won't go over well at home... by Black+Jack+Hyde · · Score: 2, Funny
    "Jack, since you're off today, you can get to work on this to-do list I've written."

    "Did you get permission to make this list?"

    "WHAT-DID-YOU-SAY?"

    "Bill Gates owns the patent on to-do lists now. Tell you what, here's the number to Microsoft's licensing department. I'll be on the golf course. Later."

  8. Re:Oh for pete's sake ... by floop · · Score: 4, Funny

    I searched for your prior in comp.emacs.* on google groups but all I could find was this.

  9. Patenting smilies!! by maggern · · Score: 2, Funny

    I heard that Microsoft has a patent pending on smilies! It's absolutely true!!! ;-)

    :-M :-I :-C ;-R =O :-S ;-O :-F :-T

    So smile while you can, tomorrow a Microsoft smilies-subscription may cost ya about 5$ a month if you're lucky!!

    I can't wait! :-D

    hehe

  10. Re:Wasn't it in Eclipse first? by scmason · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It's not like this going to show up in a shipping product"

    Are YOU crazy? "TODO" items must be like 98% of their code base. Here is a sample of their kernel that I yanked off the internet:

    int main(){
    TODO: WinFS
    TODO: Trusted Computing
    TODO: Network Security
    TODO: Usable Kernel
    bsod();
    exit(-1);
    }

    --
    "I am a patient boy. I wait I wait I wait. My time is water down the drain..." Fugazi
  11. I've said it before.... by TastyWords · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...and I'll say it again:

    "Someday, Microsoft will patent the alphabet. And when that happens, we'll find ourselves paying royalties every time we sit down at the keyboard."

  12. Be Fair by nick_davison · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, be fair to Microsoft!

    I'm all for the usual baiting of Micro$oft as the evil monopoly that they are but this one's legitimate.

    I think anyone who ever installed a copy of Windows ME will agree that Microsoft need all the help they can when it comes to itemising the TODO list in their source code.

    1. Re:Be Fair by cryptor3 · · Score: 4, Funny

      But what they need to do is spend less time patenting the TODO list and spend more time shortening it.

  13. Can I play too? Microsoft's To-Do List by SnappingTurtle · · Score: 3, Funny
    1. create 100 element array
    2. populate array with 101 elements
    --
    I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
  14. Thankfully... by inkswamp · · Score: 4, Funny
    Thankfully they didn't patent the "FIXME" list.

    --
    --Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
  15. In related news by stox · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft patents the exchange of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide via breathing. A spokesman was heard saying that with this innovation, the competition will be smothered.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  16. Patent abuse... is a lot of hot air. by Roman_(ajvvs) · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Dyson owned that patent, and a tornado destroyed the Dyson factory, would Dyson be able to sue for patent abuse?

    --
    click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
  17. Re:Prior Art: Eclipse Project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    int main(){
    TODO: Find your 'Foes' list
    TODO: Put Zugot (17501) there
    TODO: Open-source this post
    TODO: Release to /.
    TODO: Laugh like this: ha-ha-ha-ha
    exit(-1);
    }

  18. Microsoft should patent buggy code... by Samah · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...that way all future non-MS applications would be bugfree for fear of infringing patents.
    Suddenly no-one uses MS's bugged products anymore! :)

    --
    Homonyms are fun!
    You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
  19. Oh No!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just double clicked my TODO list and Clippy popped up and said "Looks like you just broke a couple Microsoft Patents. Would you like to settle this out of court?"

  20. Re:Can I play too? Microsoft's To-Do List by proj_2501 · · Score: 3, Funny

    or the buffer overflow

  21. Re:Avoiding the TODO by Bombcar · · Score: 3, Funny

    s/TODO/FIXME/g

    This sed script to avoid this patent is released under the GPL.

    --
    Fellowship 9/11
  22. Re:Prior Art: Eclipse Project by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Funny
    First of all, developers should not be wasting time with the legal side of software. Most developers do not care for patents.

    Can I quote you on that?

    Yours sincerely,
    Ken Brown, AdTI

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  23. Re:sigh there we go again-Prior art anyone? by spectecjr · · Score: 2, Funny

    1999 article discussing the ToDo features in Delphi 5:

    I see your 1999 article, and raise you a 1998 article on Visual J++'s ToDo features:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/vjsharp/productinfo/vi su alj/visualj6/datasheet/default.aspx

    "Annotate and prioritize source code using TODO comments and track them using the Task List."

    Actually, I have some earlier prior art too...
    http://www.microsoft.com/mind/0798/j/vj.as p

    --
    Coming soon - pyrogyra