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Microsoft Patents Page Up, Page Down

August 22, 2008 -

Okay, I thought it was ridiculous when Microsoft patented emoticons and rss feeds, but this is just silly. According to the article on IT Wire, they've now patented the page up and page down keys.

"For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one column of pages being displayed in a row."

Cue John Cleese: Stop that now! It's just silly!

Comments on Microsoft Patents Page Up, Page Down
 
Comment Fri, August 22 - 7:09 PM by tagger
It's not clear to me if IBM put those keys there and MS wrote the driver code to support them or vice-versa.

Either way, it showcases just how broken the patent system in this country has become.
 
Comment Mon, August 25 - 9:04 AM by Bill Gates
I even own the patent for the


PUSH ANY KEY