Oh, by the way, another sign of the approaching end times:
Oh, by the way, another sign of the approaching end times: it looks
like web browser plugins may become illegal thanks to an absurd patent.
Not only does it look like Microsoft (for whom, despite the extreme
weirdness of it, we
ought to be rooting) will need to pay half a billion dollars in
damages to this other company — who seems to have a patent that
applies to Web browser plugins — but Microsoft will also need to destroy
this feature in Internet Explorer. So, then, that would be it: no more Java
applets, Flash user interfaces, or embedded QuickTime movies. Isn’t it just
great that you can patent an idea? [Update: Cringley actually
wrote about this in a very favorable light a year ago;
he seems to think that this patent case is an opportunity to re-level the
playing field. I think it’s a fine line, you know, between levelling a field,
and razing it. It all depends on what Eolas wants to do with this
patent — hold the Web hostage, or just Microsoft?]