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Microsoft patent of the day

Submitted by Kai on Mon, 2008-09-01 06:32.
On August 19, 2008, Microsoft was granted a US-Patent:

"a method and system in a document viewer for scrolling a substantially exact increment in a document, such as one page, regardless of whether the zoom is such that some, all or one page is currently being viewed”.

Dave Lewis claims this means that Page-up and Page-down is hereby patents owned by Microsoft. I think Microsoft now also have patented using arrows to navigate - if you use your arrow-up or arrow-down in MS Word, you are taken one line up or down - or you are "scrolling a substantially exact increment in a document...".

The same happens using the elevator shafts - moving left/right, or up/down. It may also apply to the shortcuts to jump forward/backward to pages, columns, tables and images.

I agree with Dave that the US Patent system is long overdue for a revision. If it continues like this, anyone with a bit of cash and a way with text can claim patents for anything and everything.

What does this mean to your business? You may risk that someone shows up one day and ask you to pay a license fee for using things you take for granted - like your keyboard. But the most likely scenario is for someone to take your technology - the technology you have spent time, money and effort on developing - and register a patent on it. Using that patent, they own the rights to the technology you developed, and they will cash in on it.

How can you avoid this scenario?

Be sure to register your patents as you go. Spend the money - as it is the only way to ensure that no-one else does it. To SME's the cost of patents may seem high, but consider it an investment - if you fail to register, the whole value of your development is gone (since if your technology have any chances for making money, someone will register it as a patent, and you will pay them to use your own technology...).

What are your experiences with patents?

Sources:
ZDNET
Liquidmatrix (Dave Lewis)

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Branding starts when you pick up your phone!

Submitted by Kai on Tue, 2008-08-26 08:15.
Wow. I am amazed.

I just called a company - or so I thought. I was researching, looking for some particular information, and now just calling competitors of my client in order to gather intelligence.

And as I call around, the phone is answered (no surprise there) with:

"Hello...?"

The voice is female, and sounds like a housewife answering the phone of her husband, not sure if she is allowed to do so. You get the picture.

Me: "Have I reached ABC corp?"

Her (sounding unsure): "Yes..."

Me: "Am I talking to ...?"

Her (suspicious this time): "Yeees..."
Then: "Who am I talking to?"


I realize that I have made up my mind already in her first "Hello...?". This is not a company I would want to deal with.

Her: "Excuse me a second..." and the line goes on hold.

I start wondering what I am dealing with here. Obviously, this is no professional company. My mind wonders off, and I seriously consider just hanging up.

But, I brace myself, and continue - I am on a mission, after all:

Me: "So, listen...I was wondering, do you deal with ...?" (Insert the service/product name here).

Her (hesitating): "Yes, I could do that."

Wow. So, this company is her. No-one else, it seems. And obviously she is not used to customers rushing down her phone.

We continue our conversation, which continues to break up with "Please hold a sec..." every 30 seconds or so. As I have gathered the information I wanted, I start to wrap up. And now she has changed her approach, and starts to seem desperate.

Me: "So, let me get back to you."

Her: "Please do. I can do this. I really can, I assure you. Really."

I hung up.

Imagine, I wrote one third of this post while on hold - during the conversation - with this company. I posed as a potential client. I would pay. I would be a long term client of hers.

But it is all ruined by the first impression. The first "Hello...?". The lack of a presentation. The total lack of professionalism and commitment. It just makes me sick.

And this reminds me that branding is a full time commitment. Your company's public image is created by that first phone call. And if you drive potential clients away, you will end up with a broken back before you know it!

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Windows 3.1 is dead - so what?

Submitted by Kai on Sat, 2008-08-02 10:40.
Today, John Sheesley amused me with his attempt to use Windows 3.1 (actually 3.11 Windows for Workgroups) as a workstation of 2008. Those of us who remembers WFW, may wonder why on earth he would do that for, but I leave it to that.

One should think that using a software that was designed only 15 - 20 years ago should be quite possible today. After all, a PC is still a PC, right?

Not so. A PC of today (2008) is based upon the same principles as back in the early 1990's, but the technology has reach a maturity point where backwards compatibility hardly exists.

Yes, you may get WfW to actually work, if you like many others keep an old 486, or even a P1/P2 in a closet nearby. The challenge will be to render it useful, as John realises:

"The latest and greatest Web browser I could find for Windows 3.x was Internet Explorer 5.01. This was suprisingly modern — I thought IE 4.01 was the last version for Windows 3.x. Alas, it’s not modern enough. After installing this browser, it quickly became apparent that you can go almost nowhere with IE 5.01."

And IE 5 is not 15 years ago - it is more like 5.

Now, why should you, a security minded reader, care about the fact that John failed this project?

Several reasons comes to mind:
  • From a continuency point of view - if you rely on some old hard-/software, make sure you have the tools and systems available in case of a failure.
It is not enough to dust off the old software boxes, you need to set up a system in parallel and see that you have all the bits it takes. I even suggest you make this a routine thing - once every year, month or week - depending on the criticallity. I also suggest you start plan to change the old system for something a bit more modern.
  • From a data storage point of view - if a software can become totally obsolete in less than 5 years, you need to make very sure that your backup systems; long-time storage; and other data you may require access to in the future; uses technology you are able to access.
If you have a bundle of old tapes from a streamer that got replaced some time back - will you be able to access that data? Also consider the long-time effect light, magnetizm and dust has on equipment. CDs and DVDs are not safe for more than 10 years storing - but even that is no guarrantee. (Opposed to the advertisments in the midle of the 1990's, claiming CDs to be the best long-term datastorage available...could last for a houndred years, they claimed...)
  • From a compliance point of view - if you are obligued to store information for a periode of time - 3, 5, 7 or 10 years - you are also obligued to be able to access the same data in the future. It is your responsibility, and it is usually a good idea to plan the technology at the same time you plan what and where to store your data.
I find one of the comments to the article particularly nice:

"What will happen in the next 5 years? Is XP, 2000 going to be out of date also? Will we be able to keep up with the changes that are coming? How can we keep up to speed? "


Yes, XP, 2000 and many others will be out of date. 2000 actually did this summer, when MS pulled the support for it. Anyone remember OS/2? DOS I guess most still remember, but only hardcore, old-guys still uses it to some extent. The world (and the technology with it) moves on.

To keep up with changes, you need to keep track on what is going on, as well as on your own requirements. You are required to update once in a while, but you do not need to jump on the latest versions of everything - unless you have special requirements. It is simply a matter of balancing your needs.



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