Microsoft Retracts Patent 182
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has retracted their recent controversial patent application. The story was first brought to light by Slashdot on Saturday. Today, Jane Prey of Microsoft announced the retraction on the SIGCSE (Special Interest in Computer Science Education) mailing list. 'Many thanks to the members of the community that brought this to my attention — and here's the latest. The patent application was a mistake and one that should not have happened. To fix this, Microsoft will be removing the patent application. Our sincere apologies to Michael Kölling and the BlueJ community.'"
Why does it not surprise me... (Score:3, Funny)
Why does it not surprise me that someone named Jane Prey is involved in a Microsoft patent SNAFU?
In recent news. (Score:1, Funny)
A microsoft spokesperson said 'Many thanks to the members of the community that brought this to my attention -- and here's the latest. The patent application was a mistake and one that should not have happened.'
Everyone knows Al Gore invented the internet...
Re:Why does it not surprise me... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Um...what did Slashdot have to do with it? (Score:5, Funny)
Librarian: "If an article is not on Slashdot, then it does not exist." (Turns abruptly and walks away)
Re:Moral is complicated (Score:5, Funny)
A week or so from now, a headless body will turn up floating in Lake Washington off Madina.
Re:Moral is complicated (Score:5, Funny)
I have to say, with all the legal loops that you have to hop to work with corporate lawyers just to get a patent to the submission stage, that this is not just a simple mistake.
In other words, I definitely heard "And I would've gotten away with it, if it weren't for these meddling kids!" running through my head. Zoinks!
Prior art detected (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Patent transparency is a good thing. (Score:3, Funny)
"No Jack, we're not going to fire you over this."
"You're not?"
"No -cough- there is, however, the minor matter of your reassignment. It's a cushy position - work from home really. We've taken the liberty of routing our 1-800 number for Vista activation to your home telephone number. And I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the Windows Validation department... Jack? Are you ok?"
Microsoft will now review all of the claims submitted by these bozos to make sure they didn't screw up before.
You obviously have little understanding about how a large corporation works. Those "bozos" have probably been promoted...
Re:Moral is complicated (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Moral is complicated (Score:2, Funny)
And would've gotten away with it too... (Score:3, Funny)
*ducks*