Thats what this causes in me when I read it. How in the world can AOL patent instant messaging? I want to know how this patent got through. Granted I haven't read the actual filing, but based on the discussions I've read, I'm going to have to agree with everyone and put forth the arguments of unix, irc, and bbs's as examples of prior art. In my eyes, "instant messaging" has easily been around for a long time. My first encounter with it was on a bbs back in 1995. I'd log onto a bbs and join a chatroom where you could see who was on, talk with everyone, or talk to individual people. Then, as soon as I got on the internet, boom, there was irc. Patent bullshit like this is starting to really piss me off. I hate all this patenting of thoeries. Just think where we would be today if "an entity consisting of wheels with the purpose of transporting people or goods from one location to another" had been patented and enforced?!? Alright, enough ranting. Maybe that sick feeling is turning into hunger now.. time for dinner..
Posted by Divinity at December 19, 2002 06:44 PMjust wanted to say, yeah, i agree with you on that too..thats just fucked up
Posted by: des at December 20, 2002 03:35 PM