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Mozilla Foundation Sues Microsoft Over Tabbed Browsing 149

Posted by Zonk from the total-copy-cats dept.
SlashRating©
64
slashdottit! tm
According to the german tech-site heise.de, the Mozilla Foundation is suing Microsoft over the use of tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer 7. The Mozilla Foundation owns the patent 5,160,296 through one of their developers (Solomon Katz, a former Opera dev) and has begun suing Microsoft in Mountainview, California. The Foundation wants that MS immediately ceases to distribute IE 7 and pays 1.4 Billion dollars in damages. Heise reports that Microsoft has issued no official response, but is contemplating to ship IE 7 NT (no tabs).
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Mozilla Foundation Sues Microsoft Over Tabbed Browsing More

Mozilla Foundation Sues Microsoft Over Tabbed Browsing

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  • It is already April 1st in Germany (Score:4, Insightful)

    by doug ( 926 ) on Saturday March 31, 2007 @06:37PM (#18560839)
    I think you've fallen for a hoax.

  • Ponies!! Ponies!! (Score:4, Informative)

    by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:21AM (#18565101)
    I want to see some ponies! pink ones! slashdot is lame.

  • Mozilla (firefox tabs) vs MSFT (Office 12 ribbon) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JackMeyhoff ( 1070484 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:28AM (#18565131)
    This is going to have an impact on their Office 12 ribbon tab patents isnt it?
    • Damm you, fooled again. Im going to play games all day as surfing online is just going to be "impractical" today for the next 24 timezones. Just when you think its over, bam another site in antoher timezone pulls a prank. ZE PAIN I CANT TAKE ANYMORE:
    • dunno, apple had ribbons in system 8 or even earlier maybe. And "tabbable" windows (windows dragged down would become tabs) which wasn't a bad idea in days where screen real estate was precious.
      • Doesnt stop the patent office granting them :) http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7028023.html [patentstorm.us] Linked lists have been around for decades and now its only patented in 2006. I suggest everybody flood the patent office with prior art patents, You will be supprised how many get granted, then you have right to claim money and while you hold that money (dont spend it), earn interest on it then when the patent is revoked, you simply pay the money back :) But youve made moeny. Everybody should flood the system
        • This outlines a course of action I am critical of because i think too much money would be involved in litigation and you can't fight the money makers with money. But this is only my gut feeling and this idea deserves more recognition than a post deep in slashdot discussion theme. You might contact some anti-patents movement and submit it as an idea.

  • Patent office on crack (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MaelstromX ( 739241 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:29AM (#18565135)
    Ok, April fool's joke aside, what the heck is up with that patent that it is linked to?

    Abstract: This directory tab would aid in organizing and tracking files in a suspended filing system. The quick reference directory saves the user time and provides a handy at-a-glance feature to a filing system. This directory tab is designed to eliminate sorting through a suspended folder; it allows the user to look at the directory and visually see what's in a folder. Its design also permits additions or deletions in a quick and efficient manner. The directory tab is designed to allow office personnel who are in need of a particular item within a suspended file folder the ability to date and initial the directory tab. In doing so, the next user that comes along needing the same information will be able to identify who has it in a quick and efficient manner.


    Good grief, they'll let you patent ANYTHING won't they?
    • Indeed, they will. I went to Google Patents to look at the images from the referenced patent, and on the front page, I saw a patent for... wait for it...

      A jumping snail [google.com].

      Okay, yeah, it's a design patent, but still...
    • The Wheel [ipmenu.com] [pdf warning]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cdrudge ( 68377 )
      Everyday is April 1st at the Patent Office. Sadly though, they aren't playing jokes...they are the joke.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mpe ( 36238 )
        Everyday is April 1st at the Patent Office. Sadly though, they aren't playing jokes...they are the joke.

        No doubt they hold an "evergreen" patent on April Fools Day as well as one on bad jokes.

  • So, remember folks (Score:3, Funny)

    by 91degrees ( 207121 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:31AM (#18565143) Journal
    If you want to be corporately evil without the hoards of geekdom realising it, be evil on April the first.

    Today is the day when Microsoft could start a hostile takeover of every linux company, and Google could announcetheir new policy of "Hang it, we'll start worshipping satan", without anyone being the wiser.

  • Good day (Score:5, Funny)

    by SolitaryMan ( 538416 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:37AM (#18565187) Homepage Journal
    I always thought April 1st is the best day for suing someone :)
    • It's also the best day to invade unsuspecting countries. Who'd believe it until April 2nd!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mpe ( 36238 )
        It's also the best day to invade unsuspecting countries. Who'd believe it until April 2nd!

        Actually it is a fairly common day for governments to bring out unpopular legislation...

  • OK! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Centurix ( 249778 ) <(centurix) (at) (gmail.com)> on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:40AM (#18565207) Homepage
    I knew keeping my Netscape shares would pay off one day!

  • No hoax foax (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joebert ( 946227 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @04:44AM (#18565231) Homepage
    It's no hoax folks.
    April Fools' day was moved to April 2nd when the United States adjusted Daylight Savings Time this year.

  • Opera ? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Monsieur_F ( 531564 )
    I discovered tabbed browsing with Opera. Was Mozilla really the first to implement it?

    • Opera had it long before any other browser, so I had my hackles up when this popped up in the RSS feed. Discovering that it's all a lame-ass April Fool's hoax just disappointed me to the point I'm considering turning off all my computers for the next 21 hours and reading a book or something so I don't have to look at the fscking Internet. The damned hoaxes started yesterday, and I reached my threshold for pain around 19:47 last night.
      • These sound silly for some of us, but there are lot of people out there who actually believe these kind of crap.

        Several friends were pinging me today with "OMG ..free broadband" .. and "Google Roxor"....
        http://www.google.com/tisp/ [google.com]
        • You need some different friends. Maybe somebody not associated with slashdot. I hear there is this neat new website, Mispaced, or something like that. Very friendly folks.
      • "Opera had it long before any other browser, so I had my hackles up when this popped up in the RSS feed."

        No it didn't, Netcaptor did. And if you search google groups you'll see people asking for tabbed browsing in Mozilla like in Netcaptor. Not Opera. Opera didn't have true tabbed browsing until after a few others had implemented it (Skipstone [muhri.net], Galeon, Mozilla). For a start, at which point in Opera could you have multiple windows with multiple tabs in them, rather than the fairly typical MDI interface they

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Nurgled ( 63197 )

          I may be remembering wrong, but if I recall correctly Opera 5 was the first version to allow you to have both multiple windows and multiple "tabs" (which were of course really MDI child windows) at the same time. Opera 4 allowed you to choose either an MDI or an SDI interface. Opera 3 and earlier were MDI-only.

          Of course, more recent versions introduced the ability to turn off the MDI altogether and have "real" tabs. I think I'm one of the few remaining stop-outs using an Opera 3-style MDI interface with th

        • "Opera had it long before any other browser..."

          "No it didn't, Netcaptor did. Not Opera. Opera didn't have true tabbed browsing until after a few others had implemented it (Skipstone, Galeon, Mozilla)."

          Well, if you're going to split hairs [infidels.org] to load the dice [positiveliberty.com], Netcaptor was not a browser, it was a shell. I remember Opera 3 had what I, and most people would call tabbed browsing, but you're trying to be a jackass.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Belial6 ( 794905 )
            When did Opera 3 come out. I know that Lotus Notes had it with version 4 in 1996. If I wanted to split hairs, they had it in 1993, but the pages were not served via http over TCP/IP, so I will call it 1996. Thanks for that link by the way.
          • "Well, if you're going to split hairs to load the dice, Netcaptor was not a browser, it was a shell. I remember Opera 3 had what I, and most people would call tabbed browsing, but you're trying to be a jackass."

            I'm not actually, I'm being completely serious (yes despite it being the first). I'm just recovering from a nasty bug and don't feel all that silly. And yes, I'm aware Netcaptor was a shell, but it was also the inspiration for a lot of the Mozilla based tabbed browsing efforts. The earliest I can rem
        • Are you actually trying to post insightful messages on April 1st? What's wrong with you?

          In all seriousness, I loved NetCaptor back in the day. Tabbed browsing was ahead of it's time, and just as useful then as it is now.

    • No, but that doesn't seem to bear much practical significance with regard to who is actually granted a patent.

      Of course that may well have an effect in a possible lawsuit regarding the patent, but in this case there really is no lawsuit, so...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MadJo ( 674225 )
      RTFS (Read the fine summary):

      The Mozilla Foundation owns the patent 5,160,296 through one of their developers (Solomon Katz, a former Opera dev)
      btw, did you look at today's date? :)
      • btw, did you look at today's date? :)


        yes I did, and the tags too

        but I like hoaxes to be realistic

        Otherwise, okay, I missed this part of the summary! I didn't know that patents would follow the inventor when he switches companies

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by MadJo ( 674225 )

          I didn't know that patents would follow the inventor when he switches companies
          Well, I wasn't sure either, but the patent is on the name of that person, and not on the name of Opera. So I'd guess that it would follow him at least. :)

  • wtf??? (Score:2, Funny)

    by sharperguy ( 1065162 )
    wtf???

    I own the patents to jokes like this!!!

    /me goes off to sue /.

    :P
    • Quick! People, quick! Here he is! The first one to make really lame ass jokes! He invented them! He started the avalanche! Slashdot him! Slashdot him!
  • I say YAY!!! for mozilla is this is true, and they win (which I seriously hope they do, maybe M$ will stop coming out with crappy new OSes like vista...) But if this is an April fool's article, Clever! I about leaped up and did cartwheels...
  • The schaedenfreud from a move like this would be most deserved on the Monopoly, but of course, noting the date, one can't help but laugh and wish it were true. Good story.

  • Thank God Its Sunday (Score:4, Insightful)

    by davmoo ( 63521 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @06:26AM (#18565635)
    I'm glad April 1st is on Sunday this year. That way we don't have to worry about real news getting ignored and overlooked because Slashdot editors are too busy thinking up an entire day of bullshit stories.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fbjon ( 692006 )
      ACtually, they haven't thought up a single one yet. Only reported on other stories, just like normal.

  • No! (Score:3, Funny)

    by turing_m ( 1030530 ) on Sunday April 01, 2007 @06:31AM (#18565657)
    Mozilla should hold out for...

    One hundred billion dollars!!!
  • .. opera sues mozilla. (btw, i do know its an april fools)

  • This had me fooled for a minute. I was screaming "Noooooooo! Mozilla, you're playing with fire!" After all, if Mozilla really had such a patent, they'd do well to save it for defensive purposes.

    I haven't hit the sack yet, so it didn't quite sink in that it was April Fool's Day. In fact, with all the all-nighters I've been pulling lately, I think my biological clock is only up to about March 20 or so.

  • :-) and cat did not get my tongue.
  • Great. Make the lawyer's rich. This is like a little British boat moving close to Iranian waters. Really.

    It's the excuse Microsoft needs to start their barrage of litigation. They have lawyers. They have money. Guess who doesn't?

    Ballmer's been waiting for this moment, and The Mozilla Foundation handed it to him on a platter. Wanna see what happens when it's not really David vs. Goliath, rather Genghis Khan vs your neighbors? Watch.
  • Heeee's baaaack!
  • great! You might as well sue Dillo [dillo.org]too ya bastards!
  • I understand that it is a /. tradition to have lots of April Fools stories on the first, but does the whole page have to be composed of these this year? I am not trying to be flame bait I am just saying once is funny, 4 is wearing thin and this many is just plain tired..
    • The stories aren't funny. What's funny is how many people are posting comments thinking that they are real ...
    • you could, say, go outside. Toss a frisbee. Walk the dog. Strike up a conversation with a real world human being.

      Seriously, you can survive one full day without regular Slashdot. You can.
  • Because the new Slashdot design does not render properly in Firefox.

    What asshat designer would not make sure that a site like frigging SLASHDOT! doesn't work in frigging FIREFOX!

    Jeez, I hate IE!

  • i can imagine the tabs being damaging... they are competing about the global tab share. you see, when a microsoft user brings about 10 tabs, it raises the total number of tabs in the world, and is 10 tabs less for other browsers. the ratio of tabs is relative to a sum of money the software companies get paid by the government for being efficient and space saving. what you all should do now is to open 100 tabs in your firefoxes, or more preferably in your local bar, so we cab really take this issue on to the
  • Using tabs for separate windows in an app pre-dates FF's use of them. Using them in a browser is hardly innovative. Sounds to me like the Mozilla patent is just another BAD patent.
  • Opera had tab browings first.
  • well, it looks like opera-mozilla finally got the drop on bill and steve. that patent app is airtight, believe me. fair and square. crazy, but redmond is just going to have to bite the bullet and start calling them something else, at least here in the states. maybe they could try "knobs." no wait, i know: "babs!" yep. that could work. in other oddness i heard that hex thing on saturn is really a giant nut holding the planet together - and it's loosening! [p2p-zone.com] why is april so damn weird? - js.

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