Comments on: Microsoft wants to patent Enlightenment Technology http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/ Ibukun Olumuyiwa's weblog Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:30:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Pramod Venugopal http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-119 Pramod Venugopal Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:55:42 +0000 http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/#comment-119 Heh if you look through the patent application on pages 2 and 3 , the graphic example shown is a drawing of KDE and Gnome. You can see the Gnome foot and KDE K very clearly so they have submitted evidence of prior art Heh if you look through the patent application on pages 2 and 3 , the graphic example shown is a drawing of KDE and Gnome. You can see the Gnome foot and KDE K very clearly so they have submitted evidence of prior art

]]> By: Bernhard http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-39 Bernhard Sat, 15 May 2004 12:51:21 +0000 http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/#comment-39 In the case of the Microsoft patent application for the "Virtual Desktop", proving prior art is trivially easy. Here's a handy short link I created: http://tinyurl.com/2q76j It is well known in the Unix community that the virtual desktop first appeared in the Solbourne window manager (swm, also known as ParcPlace window manager) programmed by Thomas E. LaStrange. Solbourne was a manufacturer of computer workstations and suitable software (just like Sun). It can still be downloaded from the X Consortium's file server: ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/swm.tar.Z Unpack it, and look in the man directory for more information. The manual file swm.1 of this distribution dates from February 26, 1992. Other places in the WWW confirm that the swm introduced this functionality. To name a few: http://cns.georgetown.edu/~ric/wm/ http://www.luv.asn.au/overheads/winmgr.html http://www.decus.de:8080/HELP/TVTWM/VIRTUAL_DESKTOP Personally, I've been a user of a newer piece of software by Thomas E. LaStrange, tvtwm. Here's the section of its manual page that pointed me towards swm: > man tvtwm ----- begin manual page ---- TVTWM(1) TVTWM(1) NAME tvtwm - Tom's Virtual Tab Window Manager for the X Window Sys­ tem SYNTAX tvtwm [-display dpy] [-s] [-m | -M] [-k] [-f initfile] [-v] DESCRIPTION Tvtwm is a window manager for the X Window System based on the X11R5 version of twm. It includes a ``Virtual Desktop'' fea­ ture that effectively makes the root window of the screen larger than the physical limits of the display. To change as little as possible in this manual, from here on the window manager is referred to as twm. [...] VIRTUAL DESKTOP The Virtual Desktop feature of tvtwm was modeled after the same feature in swm (Solbourne Window Manager). The Virtual Desktop effectively makes the ``root'' window of the display larger than the physical screen size. The Virtual Desktop is panned in one of two ways, either by executing one of the f.scroll commands or by using the panner. The panner is a special window that shows a miniature view of windows on the desktop. The small windows in the panner will have the same colors as the titlebars and icons of their asso­ ciated client windows. The panner is very simple to operate. Mouse button one, pressed inside the panner, allows you to move the outline indicating your current view on the desktop. Releasing the button will reposition the desktop to the point ..... For more info against software patents go to http://swpat.ffii.org In the case of the Microsoft patent application for the “Virtual
Desktop”, proving prior art is trivially easy. Here’s a handy short
link I created: http://tinyurl.com/2q76j

It is well known in the Unix community that the virtual desktop first
appeared in the Solbourne window manager (swm, also known as ParcPlace
window manager) programmed by Thomas E. LaStrange. Solbourne was a
manufacturer of computer workstations and suitable software (just like
Sun). It can still be downloaded from the X Consortium’s file server:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/swm.tar.Z
Unpack it, and look in the man directory for more information. The
manual file swm.1 of this distribution dates from February 26, 1992.

Other places in the WWW confirm that the swm introduced this
functionality. To name a few:
http://cns.georgetown.edu/~ric/wm/
http://www.luv.asn.au/overheads/winmgr.html
http://www.decus.de:8080/HELP/TVTWM/VIRTUAL_DESKTOP

Personally, I’ve been a user of a newer piece of software by Thomas
E. LaStrange, tvtwm. Here’s the section of its manual page that
pointed me towards swm:

> man tvtwm

—– begin manual page —-

TVTWM(1) TVTWM(1)

NAME
tvtwm – Tom’s Virtual Tab Window Manager for the X Window Sys­
tem

SYNTAX
tvtwm [-display dpy] [-s] [-m | -M] [-k] [-f initfile] [-v]

DESCRIPTION
Tvtwm is a window manager for the X Window System based on the
X11R5 version of twm. It includes a “Virtual Desktop” fea­
ture that effectively makes the root window of the screen
larger than the physical limits of the display. To change as
little as possible in this manual, from here on the window
manager is referred to as twm.

[...]
VIRTUAL DESKTOP
The Virtual Desktop feature of tvtwm was modeled after the
same feature in swm (Solbourne Window Manager). The Virtual
Desktop effectively makes the “root” window of the display
larger than the physical screen size. The Virtual Desktop is
panned in one of two ways, either by executing one of the
f.scroll commands or by using the panner.

The panner is a special window that shows a miniature view of
windows on the desktop. The small windows in the panner will
have the same colors as the titlebars and icons of their asso­
ciated client windows. The panner is very simple to operate.
Mouse button one, pressed inside the panner, allows you to
move the outline indicating your current view on the desktop.
Releasing the button will reposition the desktop to the point
…..

For more info against software patents
go to http://swpat.ffii.org

]]> By: sketkar http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/comment-page-1/#comment-18 sketkar Fri, 27 Feb 2004 13:43:17 +0000 http://xcomputerman.com/pages/archives/2004/02/26/microsoft-wants-to-patent-enlightenment-technology/#comment-18 Not sure how open source deals with such situations but there must be something the GPL license and EUL that prohibits patenting of open source innovations. Because basically patenting voids the basic principles of what open source stands for. Am I wrong? I can't believe microsoft can just blatantly steal technology like this. Just my 2 cents. Not sure how open source deals with such situations but there must be something the GPL license and EUL that prohibits patenting of open source innovations. Because basically patenting voids the basic principles of what open source stands for. Am I wrong? I can’t believe microsoft can just blatantly steal technology like this. Just my 2 cents.

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