:-/
(on the PDA’s that is 
)
um any links, stories, etc…? I’d have to move this to random otherwise 
Do you have any sources that prove this?
his only source is that hairball stuck in his brain…
Actually that is true, but that is really old news. I think the patent is designed to allow other companies to freely use the double clicking also. It’s not a patent designed to one day sue another company over because another company has a program that supports double-clicking.
Here is one source: http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=20862&category=main&highlight=
color_loser - no need for inflammatory comments.
I don’t think that Ahmed and I were doubting the story’s validity, we just needed some proof for it to be worth discussing.
i read in PC authority magazine here in australia
PATENT BATTLES RAGE ON
Companies fight to claim double click ‘technology’
Amid increasing criticism of ambigous and, let’s face it, idotic software patents, Microsoft was granted a patent for the invention of the humble double click. Specifically, the patent awarded by the US Patent and Trademark office, designated as 6,727,830, outlines the behaviour of a ‘time based hardware button for the appliceation launch’.
The patent grants Microsoft ownership over the use of a button that is pressed for a normal amount of time; a long duration; or multiple clicks in a set amount of time, commonly known as a double click. Currently, the wording of the document refers to PDA technology, which uses a stylus to perform the ‘clicking’, but ambiguous wording like ‘this invention relates generally to computer systems…’ implies that it could pertain to desktops aswell.
ooh man… that would make a LOT of people including me very very angry…
i cant imagine they could ever get the rights to the double click… thats just absurd!!
The patent grants Microsoft ownership over the use of a button that is pressed for a normal amount of time;
Umm… Can they do that?
microsoft can do everything, but remember, it’s for mice on pda’s, not something often done, in fact, I’ve never even heard of it 
this aticle was just talking about how the wording of the documentations on the patent makes it sound like it is talking about double clicking for everything instead of just on the palms.
at the end of the article it also talks about how PalmOne have retained the rights to use their Graffiti handwriting recognition system. Xerox took PalmOne to court in like 1997 believing Palm had violated its ‘unistroke’ input system. But Palm were cleared cos the court ruled that the patent was invalid due to the existence of prior inventions.
Poor Xerox, all of their cool ideas get stolen.
This is a really dumb question, but do any other OS’es use double click or is it all single click? I don’t remember consciously (or unconscioulsy for that matter…) whether I double clicked ever while using a Linux or a Mac
Xerox created the technology - but companies like Apple and MS made them popular
Here’s a better question:
Who was the first to use a mouse in the first place?
Apple?
I played around with RedHat Linux for a while. I used 2 different Window Managers (but i don’t remember their names) and both of them used the double click to select icons on the desktop, or when viewing icons inside of the “explorer” window.
Who worked for Apple and stoled the sorce code to make his own Os (and the use of a mouse:P?
Bill Gates
From seaching google - The Stanford Research Institute, where Doug Engelbart did his research first developed the mouse. After a while, several of the original designers went to Xerox and improved the mouse based on Engelbart’s patents. At one of the Xerox demonstrations, Steve Jobs liked it and wanted it used in the Apple computers. So the story goes at least
I think a swedish guy invented the mouse, and he’s been struggeling against huge companies and accusing them for patent intrution (sp?). Something like that.
I thought Doug Engelbart was the one who invented the mouse?
Who worked for Apple and stoled the sorce code to make his own Os (and the use of a mouse?)
Right… Apple OS… before DOS… sure.
-EG