Patents and Microsoft
The very idea of patenting software ideas, as opposed to copyrighting programs, is a relatively new one. According to a New York Times article ("Why Bill Gates Wants 3.000 New Patents, 8/31/05), the idea used to be that you could patent only physical things, not methods or even algorithms. But US court cases (not new laws) have led us down a slippery slope over the last few decades, and suddenly the patent office has been flooded with trivial patents, many of them on mere techniques in software programs.
Microsoft especially has gone gung-ho on patenting everything they can think of, with almost 4,000 patents logged so far with 3,300 pending. According to the article, these include such trivial techniques as "Adding and Removing White Space from a Document" or "System and Methods for Creating a Note Related to a Phone Call."
The point, given Microsoft's squadron of lawyers and deep budget, is to scare off any potential competitors, or at least make them pay for using what had been free up until now. As the patent list grows, it becomes more and more likely that a programmer will unknowingly violate a patent or, at the least, get threatened with a flimsy lawsuit. And patents last 20 years, an eternity in the software industry.
Few companies (Google and Yahoo come to mind) have the legal talent and deep pockets to fight such moves, and no really small company can. Worst of all, Microsoft may be able to utterly crush the Open Source movement, a group of programmers using mostly Linux-based systems who are offering collaborative free software for general use. No independent programmer has the wherewithal even to fight.
In this way, Microsoft, itself incapable of real innovation, is trying to stifle innovation and competition. By twisting a protection originally granted to keep inventors reap the benefits of their innovations, Microsoft is hoping to crush any threats. Not a healthy situation for the future of software.
6:46:23 PM 
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