djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (05/04/89)
According to a quick blurb I saw in the April 24, 1989 issue of Information
Week, Quarterdeck has been awarded some sort of software *patent* for the
screens they developed for DESQview. The writer quoted Charles Seybold
(Industry analyst?) as claiming that this could stand the software world
on its ear, or some such.
Any comments on what this may mean in the near term for "ownership"
of windowing displays? Is there a better newsgroup for followups?
I apologize if you've already beaten this one to death. I've been away...
"Moby" Dick O'Connor
Washington Department of Fisheries
Olympia, Washington 98504
Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu
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DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, not for the Department. Here, anyway!
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So long, and thanks from all the fish...brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (05/04/89)
Quarterdeck's "patent" is fortunately, as far as I could read, not on the general idea of multiasking windowing, but on the way they do it for badly behaved DOS programs. What they do is let the dos program write into where the screen memory is, and they have service routines look there and copy the new output to their windows. Now it strikes me that this is a very silly thing to have a patent granted on. While many ideas are "obvious" after the fact, this is a pretty clear case of something that was obvious, just a pain to do, before anybody ever did it. I am all for patent law, actually, but I think that cases like this do more harm to patent law than good, as they make a lot of people get up and use it as evidence of why patents are bad. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
ddl@husc6.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) (05/05/89)
In article <3190@looking.UUCP>, brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: | Quarterdeck's "patent" is fortunately, as far as I could read, not | on the general idea of multiasking windowing, but on the way they | do it for badly behaved DOS programs. | | What they do is let the dos program write into where the screen memory | is, and they have service routines look there and copy the new output | to their windows. | | Now it strikes me that this is a very silly thing to have a patent | granted on. While many ideas are "obvious" after the fact, this is a | pretty clear case of something that was obvious, just a pain to do, before | anybody ever did it. If the patent really is on this general concept (letting the program write where it wants and copying the data) I'm pretty sure it has been done before. ZPC (a PC emulator for the Z100) does this to run badly behaved DOS programs on a Z100 (which has a different format for, and, fortunately, a different location of, screen memory). Several CGA-on-HGC emulation programs do this also. Of course, these aren't windowing programs... Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.*
palowoda@megatest.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) (05/05/89)
From article <1756@husc6.harvard.edu>, by ddl@husc6.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani): > In article <3190@looking.UUCP>, brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: [some text deleted] > | What they do is let the dos program write into where the screen memory > | is, and they have service routines look there and copy the new output > | to their windows. > > If the patent really is on this general concept (letting the program > write where it wants and copying the data) I'm pretty sure it has been > done before. Gee, If I have a copyright on my screen output and Deskview makes a direct copy of it without my permission I can sue them. At least I have the proof of the patent. Are you listening Lotus? ---Bob -- Bob Palowoda Work: {sun,decwrl,pyramid}!megatest!palowoda Home: {sun}ys2!fiver!palowoda BBS: (415)796-3686 2400/1200 Voice:(415)745-7749
karl@asylum.SF.CA.US (Karl Auerbach) (05/08/89)
Does anyone have the patent number for the Querterdeck patent? --karl--
george@mnetor.UUCP (George Hart) (05/10/89)
In article <2031@asylum.SF.CA.US> karl@asylum.UUCP (Karl Auerbach) writes: >Does anyone have the patent number for the Querterdeck patent? > --karl-- The patent number is 4,823,108. The actual title of the patent is: "Display System and Memory Architecture and Method for Displaying Images in Windows on a Video Display" Sort of reminded me of the logical devices under IBM VM except it actually allows direct access to the physical device. An interesting concept but since it inherently relates to the introduction of multitasking and device sharing, it will be interesting to see if another vendor challenges it. -- Regards.....George Hart, Computer X Canada Ltd. UUCP: {utzoo,uunet}!mnetor!george BELL: (416)475-8980