Microsoft has won a patent for an instant messaging feature that notifies users when the person they are communicating with is typing a message.
The patent encompasses a feature that's not only on Microsoft's IM products but also on those of its rivals America Online and Yahoo. The patent was granted on Tuesday.
Patent No. 6,631,412 could serve as a weapon in Microsoft's battle for IM market share. Microsoft is investing heavily in IM as a springboard for selling communication software to businesses. Later this year, Microsoft plans to launch Live Communications Server, a software product that will initially offer IM for the enterprise and then expand into Internet voice calling and video services.
The software giant currently offers MSN Messenger as a free download off the Web, as well as Windows Messenger, the IM client for its XP operating system. Both services have amassed millions of users.
Having a patent can be a powerful tool, but only if it can be proven in a court that its owner has bulletproof claims to the invention, according to legal experts. Companies that challenge a patent have to prove the patent owner was not the first one on record for the invention.
News source: Cnet|news.com
The patent encompasses a feature that's not only on Microsoft's IM products but also on those of its rivals America Online and Yahoo. The patent was granted on Tuesday.
Patent No. 6,631,412 could serve as a weapon in Microsoft's battle for IM market share. Microsoft is investing heavily in IM as a springboard for selling communication software to businesses. Later this year, Microsoft plans to launch Live Communications Server, a software product that will initially offer IM for the enterprise and then expand into Internet voice calling and video services.
The software giant currently offers MSN Messenger as a free download off the Web, as well as Windows Messenger, the IM client for its XP operating system. Both services have amassed millions of users.
Having a patent can be a powerful tool, but only if it can be proven in a court that its owner has bulletproof claims to the invention, according to legal experts. Companies that challenge a patent have to prove the patent owner was not the first one on record for the invention.
News source: Cnet|news.com
"We run Citibank," Woods said. "It's not like we're going to come in and shut them down. You can either stop using the software or pay for it. It's not that big of a deal."
Oracle doesn't ignore piracy, however. It instead chooses to focus on educating customers on what they can and cannot do with the software. "I believe that most people are good people," Woods said.
Others agreed. "We operate under the philosophy that we … design all these anti-piracy moves with the honest customer in mind," said Drew McManus, director of anti-piracy operations at Adobe Software Inc.
Oracle's laid-back attitude toward software piracy is in sharp contrast to statements made by organizations like the Business Software Alliance, which has claimed that one in four pieces of commercial software used in the United States is illegal. And in a keynote speech on Monday, Macromedia Senior Vice president of Corporate Strategy Tom Hale said that approximately 17 percent of the company's activation efforts used invalid, and possibly forged, software codes.
"Reducing piracy rates can play a key role in economic development," said Robert Holleyman, presidet and chief executive of the BSA, in July. "According to a recent study conducted for the BSA, cutting the rate of software piracy in the United States to 15 percent by the end of 2006 could add $142 billion to the GDP, create more than 130,000 new high-tech jobs and generate an additional $23 billion in tax revenues.
Meanwhile, legislators such as Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., have tried to cut down on peer-to-peer file sharing as a means of combating illegal copying of copyrighted works, mainly music and movies—not software. "I think we need to be consistent," Woods said.
After the eolas patent impact they try to make own patents to avoid such things in the future.
Last edited by 3079 on 08 Oct 2003 - 13:09
i dont want people to know when im typing, or if i type something and then decide to delete it and not send it, but hey thats just me being weird i guess
the only feature important to me is the ability to send pictures.
oh, and to microsoft, who thinks this will help attract users...
get a life. do something better with your im. it's crap.
if you don't care, don't post it takes time and energy and implies that you care
2)
no... they are covering themselves so eolas2 doesn't have round 2
3)
see point 1
4)
but earlier you said
have you used the latest betas? the last quote implies no, well the product is very good.
So, if you don't care don't post and if you don't know what you're talking about don't post and if you will never use the product "ever" i will laugh when you eat your words like so many other have in the past.
Don't knock it before you try it.
Does anyone know if an open instant messaging protocol is on the cards? If not, one should be!
In Trillian, you can add irc users into your contact list and when they're online, you can send them a message like other IMs (I think it either uses the /msg or dcc chat feature).
I have the same problem. It has 2 or 3 very specific issues that i'd like fixed, (Away Messages (i know, Messenger Plus, but its not the same), the fact that it puts a newline after the user's name in the IM window, and a few others) but other than that, i definitely like it... but noone uses it. I've slowly been getting a few friends over to it, but since everyone else uses AIM, people don't listen to me very well
What I don't understand is why anyone would use AIM with the terrible interface. Honestly, maybe there's a mod that improves it's look, but with it's current state, I can't stand to even look at it.
But that's just me
Well, if you use iChat on Mac OS X (which is the default IM program, and talks to AIM), the interface is really nice, but the Official AIM client isn't much nicer to look at than the Windows version.
INNOVATION ? DREAMING...
By the way, is this the same feature that ICQ used to have a billion years ago where the other party could see exactly what you were typing, letter by letter, in realtime? That feature was annoying as heck. It's hard to complete a thought when you can''t take anything back. And for someone whose typing skills are at G-Dubya level, it's embarrassing.
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