[Am-info] query about MS "Innovations"

[Felmon Davis]

On Friday 29 March 2002 02:53 pm, John Poltorak spake and saith:
> On Fri, Mar 29, 2002 at 02:40:57PM -0500, Felmon Davis wrote:
> > The sense I'm getting from the replies are:
> >
> > ad (a): maybe but perhaps more a matter of 'great minds thinking
> > alike' since NeXT and Apple ('Publish and Subscribe') had similar
> > designs at the same time. but - perhaps - even OLE and DDE are
> > IBM inventions. so this is all unclear until I can do some
> > historical research.
>
> Do a Google search on 'IBM OLE PATENT'.
>
> > F.

ok, according to Richter:

---begin quote---
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced it was planning to move 
all of ActiveX over to an open   
standards body, and I was suspicious of that move, but couldn’t 
figure out what was wrong. As it turns out,   
an editorial in last week’s InfoWorld has shed new light on the 
matter. ActiveX, you may recall is just a new   
and fancy name for OLE. Well, IBM owns the OLE patents, and 
Microsoft’s license to those patents   
appears to be on the verge of running out. By turning OLE Controls a 
la ActiveX over to an open standards   
body, Microsoft might be hoping to defuse the strength of IBM’s 
patents, while still retaining the ability to   
adopt an open standard it was responsible for making open. Seems 
pretty devious, doesn’t it? How much   
truth there is to this theory isn’t clear, but I have to give 
InfoWorld credit for their research.
---end quote---

see: <http://www.richterscale.org/pcgr/pc960813.htm>

much of this doesn't make sense to me: why would turning ActiveX over 
somehow protect MS's investments against patent infringement (or the 
need to renegotiate the use of the patented technology), but this 
starts to confirm the claim that IBM is the owner.

time constrains so I can't dig further right now.

so OLE isn't MS's innovation.

F.