[LINK] Microsoft wins double-click patent

[Adam Todd]

At 10:18 3/06/2004 +1000, Chirgwin, Richard wrote:
> >From the SMH:
>http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/02/1086058889577.html
><http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/02/1086058889577.html>
>
>'A default function for an application is launched if the button is pressed
>for a short, i.e., normal, period of time.

That's Apple Mac.  I can't see who you can patent something that existed 
and was created by another party 30 years before the patent application was 
made.

Clearly this is a fault within the US Patent system that Australia is now 
required to align itself with.

>An alternative function of the application is launched if the button is 
>pressed for a long, (e.g., at least one second), period of time.

The concept of launching an alternative application on double click of a 
button isn't new either.

I've had this feature in much of my software since the early 80's.  In fact 
this is written into a package used now by Telstra, which I wrote in the 
early 1980s.  In this instance it might be launching an application, a 
function or a  print job.

>Still another function can be launched if the application button is 
>pressed multiple times within a short period of time, e.g., double click'.

Again nothing new, but man can you see people fouling up on that one!