Slashdot Mirror
How HP Could Turn a Novelty Into a Revolution
RobotsDinner writes "HP's TouchSmart desktop is cool, but a blogger suggests it could be the beginning of a revolution if HP were to finally make the move of ditching Windows and building a Linux distro around the TouchSmart UI. 'Hello, HP. The UI of your latest TouchSmart computer says something about you. You may not have recognized your own weaving-in of meaning, but it comes across quite clearly if one reads just right: You want out. You want to escape the world of Windows to which Microsoft has sequestered you for the better part of two decades. Ah, but you can. No longer does Bill Gates stand guard outside your cell ... It's time to ditch Windows and build a Linux distro around the TouchSmart UI ... Your captivity of innovation under Microsoft is over. You're free. Free to invent, as you might put it.'"
Sure, Apple holds patents on particular ways of implementing multitouch. But they can't hold a valid patent on multitouch itself because they didn't invent it (and neither did the company they acquired to get multitouch for their systems).
US patents are granted for all sorts of things that the holders didn't invent.
Yes, but if the holders didn't invent it, the patents aren't valid and people don't need to license them.
Besides, HP probably already has patent cross-licensing agreements with Apple. Patents are primarily being used from protecting creaky old behemoths like Apple, Microsoft, and HP from innovative small competitors.