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Microsoft Patents the Mother of All Adware
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has an article on the mother of all adware patents filed by Microsoft: 'It's such a tremendously bad idea that it's almost bound to succeed. Microsoft has filed another patent, this one for an "advertising framework" that uses "context data" from your hard drive to show you advertisements and "apportion and credit advertising revenue" to ad suppliers in real time.' Ars discusses this disturbing concept, which was originally unearthed by Information Week and we first discussed last week."
According to TFA:
"The software would also free advertising from its traditional browser yoke. "A word processor may display a banner ad along the top of a window, similar to a toolbar, while a graphical ad may be displayed in a frame associated with the application. A digital editor for photos or movies may support video-based advertisements," the patent application says.
So no, Adblock in its current form wouldn't do squat.
"Oh no! My Windows machine screen is full up with porn advertisements"
You mean that their "ad framework" is an unpatched copy if Internet Explorer? I think there's a LOT of prior art on that one, from drive-by installs, malware, viruses, trojans, etc.
Kevin Smith on Prince
There is a world of difference. Anyone can apply for a patent for anything, no matter how old or obvious, and their application will be published - even in the US now that US patent law is like that almost everywhere else. If I filed a patent application for a cheese sandwich, it would be published, but I doubt it would be granted.
Routine publication is a Good Thing. It gives others who know that the alleged invention is not new (there is so-called "prior art") the chance to bring it to the attention of the examiner. It also means that applications in other patent offices can be sought out (easily and for free using esp@cenet) and opposed if need be.
Crying that someone has patented something just because they have an application published is not a Good Thing. It is crying wolf, and has the potential to make people take no notice of the really important bad patent applications.
I agree that the idea stinks, but I do not know whether it is better a free-for-all or something that MS can limit to itself.
The above is why I choose to be an *anonymous* European Patent Attorney - I handle patents for software implemented inventions. I do not like all of them (and sometimes tell my clients so) but it is a legally made living.
That's ok, anyone who was a real Empornium member has moved onto Cheggit.net since Targetpoint bought E. ... so I've been told.
http://pidgin.im/pidgin/home/
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
Back in the heady dot-com days of 1999, there was an ISP, PeoplePC, that would give you a free PC if you subscribed to their ISP. Also, you would be served ads 24/7. Is Microsoft resurrecting a bad idea from the 90's? Should we expect Bob 2009 and Hammer pants for Ballmer?
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199