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Microsoft Wants More Credit for Inventions
theodp writes "Bill Gates said Thursday that Microsoft expects to file 3,000 patent applications this year, up from a little over 2,000 last year and 1,000 just a few years ago. 'We think--patent for patent--what we are doing is, if anything, more important than what others are doing,' said Gates, perhaps referring to 'Organizing and displaying photographs based on time,' which the USPTO published just hours before Gates spoke."
with the most lawyers always wins.
rule # 1 kiddies - if you cant invent, buy more lawyers. and then claim you invented it.
If you've ever seen the movie High Fidelity the main character decides to organize his albums not by title or genre, but by autobiographical so that if he wanted to find an album he had to remember when he bought it. Well just for fun I decided to do the same thing with my porn collection using iPhoto. Now I can see how my tastes in porno have changed and grown more sophisticated over the last 7 years. And wow I was into some pretty kinky shit as a 12 year old.
once their patent on the blue screen of death goes through ...
...
they will be getting payouts left and right for that
it is by far the most ubiquitous of PC conventions that has ever been seen.
it took four people to come up with that!
Sorry jomas1, your post was kind of long so I didn't bother to read it all. But yes, your patent for first post is granted.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Yeah, Nautilus has a "sort by date" option. Works for regular files too...
X_X
My other car is first.
Microsoft patents three finger salute. Whiny boy scouts claim prior art. Bill Gates derides scouts as religious cult, and threatens to sue the pimply freaks into oblivion.
Patents are a joke, and they need reform.
I always knew your company is inventing superior things every day. I just wonder what kept MS from implementing any of them? Sincerely yours -
I don't read replies by ACs.
The only truly unique technology Microsoft ever invented is their secret algorithm that is able to generate errors in such a way that every user experiences at least one unique problem never seen by anyone else. Microsoft's software beats all others in this aspect. No other software can match the sheer randomness of the errors produced by Microsoft operating systems, which is why people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars more for it than they would have spent on otherwise superior Open-Source operating systems such as Linux.
I actually think it's funny that Microsoft has the gaul to say that they are patent-for-patent more important than any other competitor. You know... except for IBM... which has more patents granted per year, than anyone else.
(If I have my fact right. If I don't please feel free to slap me with a herring.)
I am unamerican, and proud of it!
'Organizing and displaying photographs based on time,'
ls -ltr
Bam.
A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
Microsoft patented France.
Oh, boy, an arms race. That always works out for the best... Nothing like Mutual Assured Lawsuits to foster inovation.
p.s. I'm applying for copyright on the phrase "Mutual Assured Lawsuits."
Disclaimer: I work for a company, but I don't speak for them.
The lawyers always win. The person with the most lawyers comes in second place.
"We think--patent for patent--what we are doing is, if anything, more important than what others are doing."
Sounds to me somebody needs a hug?
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
How is this modded interesting? They might be Chinese but they're MSFT employees, they're not Chinese government bureaucrats looking at the Windows source code. And what does this have to with SCO??
So, I'm forced to explain myself.
By using Chinese slave labor they can patent twice as much as they did before. If chronological picture presentation is an indication of the quality of the new patents, I'm afraid that M$ is not getting much for their money. Pity the USPTO does not see it that way and will now keep us all from writing programs that present photographs in chronological order by doing such obvious things as looking at the file date and image metadata. I mentioned SCO because they are also involved in a huge M$ IP theft scheme. The M$ motto is, what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine, sign the dotted line, bitch, you're mine! I submit.
Got it yet? You will if you ever try to do anything for yourself and share it with your friends. By God, that would make you an IP thief because everyone knows that M$ make everything.
Ugh, not even Big Brother was brazen enough to take credit for everything. He was able to claim the helicopter, but not the airplane.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...perfecting the technique of causing mass frustration stretching all the way from the individual consumer to entire governments through the release of buggy software and the use of questioable business practices to guarantee that the very same buggy software is used in place of better alternatives.
Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
And I know this stuff because yeah, I work at the USPTO.
Then if you know the regulations that actually govern the job you claim to be qualified to hold, you should know that the grandparent post was claiming that current Patent office policy regarding software violates the existing laws about patenting natural processes and mathematical formulae.
The fact that you don't know the regulations that govern your job gives weight to your assertion that you're a USPTO employee. Maybe, instead of claiming that there's nothing wrong with the system, you should be trying to fix it from the inside? Unless, of course, you're just astroturfing.
Ironic, isn't it? It's like Joe claiming that pound-for-pound he's the best fighter in town, when in fact Bob is twice his size. Oh wait, it isn't ironic. That's what he meant.
"for fuck's sake"
"Fuck" is a verb, you stupid fuck.