Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Great Microsoft Innovation Lie (and Software Patent News)

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants," Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Microsoft Innovation



Progress in development is cumulative, but for selfish reasons, some people pretend it ain't so. "Innovation" has always been Microsoft's principal buzzword and also justification (excuse) for deviating from standards. One Halloween Document reveals that Microsoft saw itself needing to "innovate" above standards in order to deny entry of Free software into the market (covered previously in [1, 2]).



Microsoft has been a master of hypocrisy in several different areas. In practice, the company seems to have invented very little. It just mass-marketed existing ideas, often leading to the illusion that it was an original creator due to wide distribution. Ideas needn't be correlated to reach and media exposure though.

“It just mass-marketed existing ideas, often leading to the illusion that it was an original creator due to wide distribution.”As an example of this, consider Microsoft Surface. The idea was far from original. A reader has just sent us a pointer to Comes Vs. Microsoft exhibit 7278 [PDF] (mirror [PDF]). It's quite fascination what you can find in several thousands of pages. In this antitrust exhibit (exposed briefly over a year ago), you can find out where Microsoft gets its ideas from. Remember that Microsoft settled the case to hide all of this damning material, but we are fortunate to have retained copies.

The person who sent us this pointer summarised it thusly: "See Microsoft innovate Avalon by downloading the Apple SDK."

We have grabbed off the PDF just a portion of the text (quite a few E-mails are contained therein, but OCRing is laborious because of the poor quality of the scan). This text is a message which was sent to the most senior Windows managers (all of whom recently left or retired, Will Poole being the last one just about a month ago). As Jim Allchin sighs at the following, you must realise why he said he would choose a Mac had he not worked at Microsoft.




From: Vic Gundotra Sent: Wednesday, 3une 30, 2004 8:29 AM To: Jim Allchin; Brian Valentine; Will Poole; Joe Peterson Cc: Sanjay Pathasarathy; Charles Fitzgerald Subject: RE: tiger

Steve is trying hard to retain the developers he has left.

He showed "spotlight" functionality embedded in 4 different apps, then highlighted that developers can build (and should build) the same functionality in their apps,

I have SDK - will send to Quentin

They even showed a bit of extensibility in their design.

I don’t have details, but at first blush, I think they will be there 80% on developer platform too.

€° Their Avalon competitor (core video, core image) was hot - lots of transparency, ripple effects, etc Ì„€° I have the coot widgets (dashboard) running on my Mac right now with all the effects he showed on stage. I’ve had no crashes in 5 hours. €° Their video conferencing was amazing (you have to see a demo), €° They have no indigo/web services story €° They are betting on RSS in a high profile way - so they will get credit for this too €° They have "agent" like software - I have it working on my Mac as of last night. It’s very cool scripting software for the entire system. You should see a demo of this - Jobs does it in his keynote €° I’ve enclosed a screen shot from Lenn of using Spotlight against locally cached exchange data. (You can point the built in mail client against an exchange server. The mail is copied down locally, and then "spotlight" works against it wickedly fast)

Video of Job’s talk is here: http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

The bits we deliver in Sept 05 PDC must be compelling, even in beta form. UI must be hot. We will be directly compared against tiger.

-vicg




Another fine examples of Microsoft 'innovation'. Again, no wonder Allchin wanted to buy a Mac and said that Microsoft "must rise to the challenge of Linux." This is just one example among many more, but it's not a topic that we focus on in this Web site. The take-home message is that Microsoft wants to world to believe that Microsoft offers original ideas rather than copycats. Here is a classic:

"Hey, Steve [Jobs], just because you broke into Xerox’s store before I did and took the TV doesn’t mean I can’t go in later and steal the stereo."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft



Many people still believe that Microsoft is the 'mastermind' and genius behind the GUI, the word processor, the spreadsheet, etc.

Let's look at some news, shall we?

Microsoft and Software Patents



Microsoft seems to have just downed itself when it applied for nothing less than a behavioural patent applied in software.

Microsoft patent brings Miss Manners into the digital age



Cell phones may be nearly ubiquitous in today's world, but the number of people who have adopted proper cell phone etiquette (or gadget etiquette in general) often seems to be far smaller. Microsoft has filed for a patent (patent application 2008/125,102) on technology it feels could address such situations via the use of what the company refers to as a "digital manners policy," or DMP for short.


We last wrote about the Yahoo-Microsoft situation just a few days ago. Here is an analysis of the intellectual monopoly assets Microsoft may be after. [via Digital Majority]

While Microsoft is undeniably the leader in terms of sheer number of patents/applications spread across over 100 IPCs (international patent classification codes), it has possibly lagged when compared to Yahoo! and Google in terms of innovation. Yahoo! emerges as a significant innovative player in this regard, probably more so than even Google. Given this scenario, Microsoft’s potential acquisition of Yahoo! would definitely prop up its IP arsenal against its battle for technology supremacy against Google.


Lastly, on the same topic, there is this roundup or at least a quick status report about the Microsoft-Avistar case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Patent Office now completes Microsoft's review for patent re-examination of complete Avistar U.S. patent portfolio - Quick facts



[...]

Commenting on this, the company said it continues to expect that the remaining 10 patents will be validated, through re-examination process. The company also said that it continue to remain focused on business operations and have no further comment at this time regarding impact of these recent USPTO actions on patent discussions.


This battle has so far illustrated the drainage of energy and needlessness of such legal action. It could cost Avistar its life. Remember SCO?

How Patents Failed



With too broad a scope, the USPTO has certainly lost sight of its original objective. The sad state of the patent system has not only caused harm to many, but it even brought an entire new book, which is reviewed and thus promoted by Red Hat Magazine, which was recently forced to settle with trolls.

Patent Failure examines the current state of the American patent system based on the way it has traditionally been treated–as a type of property system. Using the yardstick of property rights and the economics they influence, Bessen and Meurer analyze the costs and benefits of patents to innovators. Their qualification: “If the estimated costs of the patent system to an innovator exceed the estimated benefits, then patents fail as property.”


As more proof of the sad state the patent system, watch the figure at the bottom of this new blog post.

How were people able to build beds with a headboard without paying royalties between 1969 and 1983?


Lastly, here is an article which speaks about patent trolls gaining sophistication. [via Linux Today]

When you're driving down the highway and you see a spotless white tanker truck with a big green tree painted on the side, you can be pretty sure that it's full of hazardous waste.

Likewise, companies with "innovation" in their names are generally innovation-hostile patent trolls. The problem isn't just that they file for obvious patents, or patents on things that someone else already invented, but that they drag the enormous transaction costs of the patent system into the flexible world of software, where transaction costs are low.

[...]

By now, even the Mainstream Media is safely aware of the need to get rid of software patents. When a Cato Institute scholar is writing an anti-software-patent op-ed for the New York Times, you can't get much more Mainstream than that.


There is a reference there at the end to immortal admissions from Chairman Gates himself. He truly forgot where he came from.

"If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today."

--Bill Gates

Recent Techrights' Posts

Hate Mail From Anonymous Cowards
if this persists, we'll need to escalate
Informal Open Letter to the Lawyer of the Microsofters (on Who's Funding the SLAPPs Against Techrights)
Whenever I ask about the funding they try to change the subject and act all aggressive
Microsoft Lunduke is Just Provoking People for Provocation's Sake
Be forewarned and remember where this guy came from: Microsoft
 
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Rethinking Aliases and Posting on Gopher vs. the Web
Links for the day
Links 09/08/2025: Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell Dies, Slop Future Bleak
Links for the day
After Shutting Down Studios, Divisions, Applications (e.g. Skype) Microsoft is Also Shutting Down 'Apps'
Cuts all around as layoffs persist this month, Microsoft tries to get many people to resign, and debt skyrockets
Most of Geminispace Can Probably Fit on a CD-ROM or a DVD (the Textual Part)
If one excludes very large capsules and ones that contain non-textual contenty
Eventually UEFI 'Secure Boot' Will be Dropped (Users Will Demand Its Removal and Boycott Its Pushers)
we expect OEMs will just listen to users
The Register MS: We Know Slop is a Bubble and Mindless Hype, But We Get Paid to Participate
Call out the culprits
There Are Probably Over a Million Pages in Geminispace
there are two many limitations which merit a mention when it comes to assessing magnitude
Besieged by Plagiarists Who Play With LLMs and Image Fusions
We really need to exercise or use our collective voice to oppose Serial Sloppers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 08, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 08, 2025
Gemini Links 09/08/2025: Water Painting and Political Violence
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LLM Sloppers in Google News, LinuxSecurity, and More
they also perpetuate some falsehoods as the LLMs lack any comprehension
Links 08/08/2025: China King of Plastics and US Dictator Plans to Meet Russian Dictator
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: Cracking a Family Member's Password and Overdose of Slop
Links for the day
Red Hat's Latest Talent Hunt, Day Ahead of Mass Layoffs, is Yet Another Microsoft Executive
Red Hat will apparently commence mass layoffs early this coming Monday
Links 08/08/2025: "Quit Facebook" and High Cost of Microsoft/Windows Shown Again ("BlackSuit")
Links for the day
Good Morning, Readers of The Register MS
Things The Register MS could (but does not) cover this morning
Why Gemini Protocol Has a Bright Future
Maybe Gemini Protocol's promise becomes more appealing as the Web turns to slop and bloat
It's a Lot Easier to Participate in the Unethical System Than to Oppose Injustices in It
Going after powerful and high-budget interests is never easy
Microsofters Filed Two SLAPPs Against Us, Now They Cannot Keep Up With Judges' Orders
For over 4 months already their facilitator in London has been under investigation by British authorities because of what's being done to my wife and I
Censorship Regarding Red Hat Layoffs
Talk about this? They'd rather not.
Struggling to Cut Costs, Microsoft Continues Shutting Down and Cancelling Stuff This Month
There are August layoffs at Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 07, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 07, 2025
Fake 'Linux' Articles, Written by Bots to Take Traffic Away From Real Articles
LLM slop helps replace information with junk or misinformation
When Google's Googlebombing of "Gemini" Was Not Enough; They Now Also Googlebomb "Gemini Space"?
We know GAFAM not only worries about Gemini Protocol but also attempts to 'infiltrate' Geminispace
The Register MS Promotes Microsoft Slop, Assumes All Readers Use Microsoft Windows
Microsoft really dominates the site
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: KDE/Qt Development and What's Missing From "Retro"
Links for the day
Links 07/08/2025: US Punishes India Instead of Russia, Attacks Law Firms to Prevent Scrutiny
Links for the day
Read Us in Geminispace as Well
it's definitely a lot simpler than using a Web browser
Once a Site About BSD and GNU/Linux, and After Months of Silence, LinuxBSDos.com Comes Back Only as a Slopfarm
very frustrating
Links 07/08/2025: Hardware Wars, Mass Recall of Colgate Total Clean Mint, More Microsoft Holes Found
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/08/2025: "Right To Manage" and LoRa Analysis
Links for the day
For the First Time in a Month OSI's "OpenSource.org" Blogs and It's Basically a Microsoft Blog Post (Microsoft Controls OSI)
For the first time in a month OSI writes something and it is Microsoft propaganda composed by a Microsoft-salaried operative
Microsoft, Already Borrowing 3 Billion Dollars a Month, is Trying to Cause Many People to Resign
MSN (i.e. Microsoft) and others openly admit it
GAFAM 'Says' is Front Page "News"
The point of journalism is to check and assess facts, not parrot what people and companies merely claim
Links 07/08/2025: Apple Makes False Promises, More Trouble for Microsoft
Links for the day
OSS Didn't Always Mean Open Source Software
"oligarchs all the way down"
The Register MS Does More Microsoft Sez or GitHub Sez (Says) Pieces
60 minutes ago
They Want Activists to Just Barely Walk and Eat, Not Do Activism Anymore
It's sort of like the ending of '1984'
Quit Perpetuating the Narrative of Gemini Protocol 'Dying' (It's False)
The "whisper campaign" against Gemini Protocol
Criticising Social Control Media in Social Control Media
Many people are quitting Social Control Media (fewer of them announce this in public)
Non-Free JavaScript Programs in Banks Aren't Even the Biggest Problem
Technology was supposed to make life easier; in practice, however, for most of us the opposite effect can be observed
Slopfarms Are Typically Fake News
Slopfarms typically relay falsehoods
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Replacing a Pocket Watch and Buying in Bulk
Links for the day
IBM is Obliterating Fedora
"Fedora releases were shipping with an increasing number of bugs on launch day even while I was using it for a several year stretch."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 06, 2025