Stupid Software Patents

SCO, Eolas and Microsoft: all they do is create work for the lawyers and troubles for the developers/users. SCO's longstanding claim on Linux can be read about here and here, with a satisfyingly ironical historical anecdote here. Microsoft is bitten by the Patent Office's lax standards...: Eolas files motion to enjoin IE - news.com ...but stupidly file their own patent for a feature that has existed for at least 7 years in other products: Microsoft pockets an IM patent - news.com