Um, I believe this was a patent on plugins like QuickTime and Flash and something to do with ActiveX controls. It didn't have anything to do with actual URLs.

Thanks, I did.

Click a link before posting?! NEVER!

Think of the web without plugins! No more crappy flash ads or crappy embedded video!

I'm probably being really short-sighted though. Isn't there a vibrator that is controlled over the internet using a plugin? It would suck if that stopped working.

It's about time the US started to overturn dumb-ass software patents.

Thanks, I was getting a bit worried there for a sec.

Wow. Does this invalidate Al Gore's invention of the Internet?

/invented gravity

Hmm, so a bogus patent was overturned, but not before it caused MS to put in a lot of unnecessary work. A win-win situation.

When's Al Gore gunna file for his injunction?

The internet?! That crap will never catch on! The real wave of the future is _______.

/insert "betamax", "telegraph", etc. as desired.

Sonic Infidel

"teledildonics"

They have a Bowser for the internet now? What's next? Internet on computers?

...changes required by Microsoft would damage the usability of the web for millions of users.

I read that as "millions of years". It's better that way so I think I'll keep it like that in my head.

Millions of users?! They should all realise that internet explorer is just spoon fed to them, and if they looked beyond such toss, they would find such things as opera and/or firebird exist, where spyware is non-existant and popups are blocked...

...it's only what, a few meg download? Best 20 minutes you'll spend on dial up.

If these guys get their appeal, and MS get shafted, it'll do people good to realise that IE isn't the only browser out there - it might do for some, but for most - the others are the way forward.

/rant

However, if you're using MS WIndows + IE, proceed with caution.

/Uses Safari

But Firebird sucks for image surfing. Go ahead, try a thumbnail rightclick download comparison and be prepared to wait forever.

It would be cool if the US patent office wasn't a useless heap of horse shiat.

It's Firefox now, come on .. stay hip or whatever.

Not to be all argumentative, but who cares about saving images when IE lets all sorts of crap permeate through your pc that opera and firebird won't?

/anyways - opera user

RockIsDead: Firefox/firebird takes a while to open that damn download window, but you can disable the window showing automatically, thus making the download speed the same as IE.

As for downloading images, HTTrack is still the king(open source too)

On one hand, I hate microsoft. But on the other, I hate greedy companies trying to make a fortune by suing huge corporations... hmmm... i say fark 'em both

Eolas: Microsoft, give us lots of your money.
Judge: Microsoft, give Eolas $500000000.
Microsoft: Bogus :(
Patent Examiner: (Pssst Microsoft, I could make your problem disappear for only $1000000)
Microsoft: Bonus :)

ElectroSnizzle:

I've uninstalled Firebird and replaced it with Firefox for when I do feel the need to use it - oops!

:)

i'm partial to MoZilla myself

how do you clear the history in mozilla? or firefox for that matter. (just curious)

We could probably help push web standards by putting a message on all websites that, after detecting IE would state:

"Your browser does not adhere to international web standards. Please contact Microsoft support to request standards compliance so that we can provide a better web experience for everyone. You will be redirected to our non-standard pages momentarily..."

If every web page handled MSIE this way, the stream of customer support inquiries might eventually annoy Microsoft enough that they would clean up their act. Rolling over and just programming websites for Microsoft IE won't help (this also applies to retarded sites that require Microsoft's version of Java VM)

Firefox rocks, except you can't copy an image to the clipboard, which is a real pisser when you're collecting images for a mediocre photoshop entry, I can tell you.

After the last popup attack by the seemingly indestructable/undetectable Purity Scan I have turned off all IE's features and will never run that parasite hosting/ebay promoting/trojan installing peice of shiat ever again.

And I'm a Microsoft supporter.

Martyn

I love Opera just because almost all the idiotic hacks that try to disable right-clicks only check for Netscape and IE.

I'll always have Opera handy.

G2V

agreed.

Remember when Amazon or some such crap claimed it could patent "one-click-checkout"? Fergodsakes, that's like someone saying "I patented a simple cash register, therefore no other stores can use one"

I actually worked for a company once that became a target of a patent-infingement suit. Basically the patent owner said "we patented the idea of transferring this type of data via modem, therefore you can't use modems". We finally ended up paying them some cash, because that was cheaper than fighting it.

I am a programmer by trade and even I think 95% of software patents are a crock. You can patent an algorithm, not much else.

Zipster

The only people who get popups in my house are the ones who won't let go of IE - as much as Ad-Aware and Spyware S&D help - there's always something wrong... Gah!!

Since 1988 the US Patent and Trademark Office has only invalidated 151 patents out of nearly four million awarded.


I bet 149 of thos where because of Microscoft

Martyn

I probably use IE/Opera about 60/40. I have mozilla also.

I think a lot of sites have realized popups are annoying and users avoid those sites. I don't seem to encounter nearly as many as I used to.

Still, as much as we might hate the browser, we mostly need to collectively whomp the web designers over the head..to wit:

- Any link that doesn't let you right-click and open in a new window is crap. Usually this is javascript nonsense. This should always work, even with the beavis-and-butthead browser.

- Using flash without permission. Sorry, but if I go to a site and all I get is a bar that says "loading", I can ditch that site in 1.5 seconds, never ever to return. Flash is for funny web cartoons. And it sure as hell ought to give me a "save as" option. I'm on dialup..I can't sit here while the flash/video stutters along. Download now, view later.

I'm off-topic here but this is probably the biggest forum for my gripes. A web site is 98% content, 2% design. If it's "edgy", well that is a synonym for "crappy"

/thanks all for letting me rant

Firefox is awesome. It's so dang fast. And how can you go wrong with Maj. Mitchell Gant in control!

the arseholes! i submit this to no avail! :(

Um, for all those saying I use firefox/mozilla/opera
All browsers use the technology involved here, MS just had the money, so it would hurt all browsers.
Mozilla's the best BTW

Sounds like an Onion headline.

Hey kids, nm is right. This has nothing to do with Microsoft being the only company affected. It's just that IE essentially is the web and everyone else is a fraction. When a patent problem like this comes along, it does in fact affect all browser makers who do certain things it just happens that Microsoft is the one most affected, and by extension, who affects everyone else.

OFF TOPIC

My wife told me that her boss told her that the CEO was coming out tomorrow to do "a tire check".

Does anyone who might be familiar with 'corporate lingo' know what "tire check" means? Thanks in advance.

/own's his own company but is clueless

/flame on!

smokedietcrack

goto the preferences menu thing in the edit menu, then click on the history thing in the navigator section

2004-03-10 08:00:19 PM arentol

Firefox is awesome. It's so dang fast. And how can you go wrong with Maj. Mitchell Gant in control!

I refuse to use any browser that makes you think in Russian!
*Hides Firfox icons with his fingers*

UncleRay

I could be mistaken, but I think a 'Tire Check' is the equivalent of walking around the car and kicking the tires...

United States Patent 5,838,906
Doyle, et al. November 17, 1998

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for running embedded program objects in a computer network environment. The method includes the steps of providing at least one client workstation and one network server coupled to the network environment where the network environment is a distributed hypermedia environment; displaying, on the client workstation, a portion of a hypermedia document received over the network from the server, where the hypermedia document includes an embedded controllable application; and interactively controlling the embedded controllable application from the client workstation via communication sent over the distributed hypermedia environment.


Is it just me, or do we typically call this type of thing an implementation, not an invention.

I've looked thru the patent and all I can see that it says is, we did it this way, so you can't, nanny-nanny boo-boo.

That's not what I call a "patentable" idea.

Once again, the US Patent office is *right on it*. only fifteen years late this time. they're improving! They must have "discovered" some ten-year old technology that someone recently invented 3 months ago.

"I could be mistaken, but I think a 'Tire Check' is the equivalent of walking around the car and kicking the tires..."

Yes, that would be a literal translation. I'm looking for 'corporate lingo'. She's a chemist working at a winery that recently went through a corporate transition. Instead of the "good ole boys" it's now a typical American corporation that runs it.

Thanks though!

Tee hee! Thats funny, 'cus, they CAN'T fix Internet Explorer! Why do you think we have all these new updates, such as the one that disables URL-embedded user auth? (which goes completely against RFC and removes functionality for no other reason than that MS couldn't fix a particular hole.) You'd think if ANY of the current IE programming team knew the code, IE would have caught up with the rest of the browser market by now. It's only a matter of time before Joe User sees the light.

UncleRay

Sorry, I wasn't going for a literal. I was thinking something like:

The guy comes out; looks at grapes; listens to the speal about proper aging; takes a sample or two; hobnobs with a few employees; gets back on the corporate jet and flys to the next place.

(But I could be wrong...)

But back to the topic...

The patent also includes some 300+ pages of code, which are not available online(for obvious reasons). Unless they can prove that Micro$ofts implementation is similar to theirs, they have no case. (But it wouldn't be the first time that Microsoft has 'allegedly' lifted someone elses work...)

Wouldn't a "tire check" just mean coming out and checking that everything is pretty what it should be?

Instead of the "good ole boys" it's now a typical American corporation that runs it.

Here's some advice from one who knows: If your new management wants to maintain complete control, but they think they can do it from a distant "HQ", then run, do not walk, away from that company.

I can't believe I am the only one to notice the Hercules and Eolas connection, so does this mean that Eolas will come kick Bill's ass with fancy kung fu? Maybe they will get Zena to help. Now that's a TV show worth watching. I can just see those Windows nerds flying like typical TV bad/lame ninjas w/ acne.

i've recently converted to firefox, and i like it quite a bit, except while farking. i get this stupid "cannot find / page" error after clicking the "continue farking" button on the bottom of the comments pages, pretty much every day. real freakin annoying.

Haw haw! I use Mozilla!