"An interesting patent application recently filed by Microsoft may offer a glimpse at the future of the Windows interface. The patent describes a 'method for managing windows in a display' that seems to describe a method of task switching that is neither Taskbar nor Expose, but something in between." It reminds me of a feature called 'iconify', where you can minimise windows into an icon on the desktop (as CDE has, for instance), a feature I miss in most modern desktop environments.
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Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2005-06-29
This is not minimising a window to an icon on the desktop - it sure does sound like it, but it is not. That's why I said "reminds me of" in the teaser.
What this patent application details is how when you minimise, say, a browser window showing OSNews.com, a 'clipping' will be made of that window (by default, the top left section) which will then be placed on the desktop; not a scaled image of the entire window. So, live previews in Vista, minimising to a desktop icon, progress icons in a taskbar, they are not the same as what is being described here.
Please, read the article before commenting. The Ars article CLEARLY describes the behaviour.
While this idea is kind of interesting, it is of course ridiculous something like this can be patented in the first place, I agree with many of the other posters here on that issue. Software patents like this, lots of them coming from Microsoft and Apple, do nothing to foster competition. In fact, they stifle it.
Edited 2007-07-17 11:57
Member since:
2005-06-29
Yeah, it definitely reminds of all those UNIX DEs...