Microsoft trying to patent RSS feeds reader?
Dec 22nd, 2006 @ 00:47I just saw the article "Microsoft seeks patent covering Web feed readers" at ZDNet.
Apparently Microsoft is seeking a patent covering:
»A content syndication platform, such as a web content syndication platform, manages, organizes and makes available for consumption content that is acquired from the Internet. In at least some embodiments, the platform can acquire and organize web content, and make such content available for consumption by many different types of applications. These applications may or may not necessarily understand the particular syndication format. An application program interface (API) exposes an object model which allows applications and users to easily accomplish many different tasks such as creating, reading, updating, deleting feeds and the like.« – From the abstract.
It seems weird to me, if Microsoft indeed is trying to patent a web based reader for RSS feeds, since Microsoft has practically nothing to do with the invention of RSS according to the history of RSS.
A funny fact is this (from the ZDNet article):
Redmond actually filed for the patents on June 21, 2005. That date, incidentally, is just three days prior to the company's formal announcement that it planned to build support for RSS into the next version of its Internet Explorer browser and into its planned Windows Vista operating system–then referred to as Longhorn.
But maybe this is an entirely new way to handle feeds, I'm not sure. Also, I'm not sure that seeking a patent is a way to keep it evolving… Things/technologies usually don't move too fast, if only one company is working on it.
Other must-read posts on this subject:
Dave Winer - "A tale of corporate atrocity"
Nick Bradbury - "Microsoft's "Content syndication platform" Patent"
Update 1: David Berlind @ ZDNet has also blogged on this in his post "On the fifth day of Christmas, Microsoft gave to me Rrrrrrrrrr Ssssssssssssss Sssssss?" (great post title by the way, David :-))
Update 2: Cnet has an article on the subject
Update 3: Sam Semiei - "Microsoft seeks patent covering Web feed readers"
Update 4: Kristian Beyer has done a great post (in Danish), that is a little more in depth on the subject on his blog Innovationpartners.
Technorati search on 'microsoft rss patent'
Related postsTags: Microsoft, Patents, RSS, Web-feeds
December 22nd, 2006 at 13:11
[...] Jeg har skrevet et indlæg på min egelsksprogede blog, hvor der også er links til andre artikler/blogposts om emnet. [...]
December 25th, 2006 at 22:13
Hej Lars
Nice post, I gave the patents a few words on my own blog (in danish sorry).
In relation to the use of patents for fast moving technologies you have to remember that even if they do get a patent (not likely) others can use the knowledge and improve the technology without infringing on the patent. So the competitors can take MS´s knowledge and do something even better.
December 25th, 2006 at 23:38
Hey Kristian
Nice post you did on the subject, I'll add it to the post right away. I'm not that much into the patent world, so it's nice that someone who is, takes the time to explain it :-)
However, I still can't figure out why Microsoft want to patent an RSS reader?
// Lars
December 26th, 2006 at 00:13
[...] Via Geek News Central I found out, that Microsoft actually has replied to the story, posts and rumours on the RSS reader patent. [...]
December 27th, 2006 at 15:31
To Kristian:
But there is no new knowledge to be found in the patent application. It is filled with common practices, e.g:
==
[0059] At the end of successfully synching a feed, the feed's LastUpdateTime is set to the current time and NextUpdateTime is set to LastUpdateTime plus an interval plus randomness ( 1/10th of the interval). Specifically: TABLE-US-00001 LastUpdateTime = currentTime NextUpdateTime = currentTime + Interval + Random(Interval * 0.1) ErrorInterval = 0
==
December 29th, 2006 at 17:22
Hi Niels (and others)
About the news: Well it would seem that there is no news in the application, even I with my limited abilities wondered what the new invention was. So hopefuly the application falls, or gets adjusted so it reveals some new technical feature. One other point is that the application does not disclose what the invention does and how…which also will lead either to correction or demise.