I think that this story was meant to be released next Sunday.....

sangraal

;-)

: Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes
: Gates attempts to patent everything software

:
: http://www.cnn.com@sci-tech@3520040376/new_010325/alert/breakingnews.html

: At a press conference beamed live to Microsoft shareholders
: around the globe, Bill Gates announces the company's
: patenting of the binary system.

: March 26, 2001
: Web posted at: 11:53 a.m. EST (1653 GMT)

: REDMOND, WA--In what CEO Bill Gates called "an
: unfortunate but necessary step to protect our intellectual
: property from theft and exploitation by competitors,"
: the Microsoft Corporation patented the numbers one and zero
: Monday.

: With the patent, Microsoft's rivals are prohibited from
: manufacturing or selling products containing zeroes and
: ones--the mathematical building blocks of all computer
: languages and programs--unless a royalty fee of 10 cents
: per digit used is paid to the software giant.

: "Microsoft has been using the binary system of ones and
: zeroes ever since its inception in 1975," Gates told
: reporters. "For years, in the interest of the overall
: health of the computer industry, we permitted the free and
: unfettered use of our proprietary numeric systems. However,
: changing marketplace conditions and the increasingly
: predatory practices of certain competitors now leave us
: with no choice but to seek compensation for the use of our
: numerals."

: A number of major Silicon Valley players, including Apple
: Computer, Netscape and Sun Microsystems, said they will
: challenge the Microsoft patent as monopolistic and
: anti-competitive, claiming that the 10-cent-per-digit
: licensing fee would bankrupt them instantly.

: "While, technically, Java is a complex system of
: algorithms used to create a platform-independent
: programming environment, it is, at its core, just a string
: of trillions of ones and zeroes," said Sun
: Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, whose company created the
: Java programming environment used in many Internet
: applications. "The licensing fees we'd have to pay
: Microsoft every day would be approximately 327,000 times
: the total net worth of this company."

: "If this patent holds up in federal court, Apple will
: have no choice but to convert to analog," said Apple
: interim CEO Steve Jobs, "and I have serious doubts
: whether this company would be able to remain competitive
: selling pedal-operated computers running software off vinyl
: LPs."

: As a result of the Microsoft patent, many other companies have
: begun radically revising their product lines: Database
: manufacturer Oracle has embarked on a crash program to
: develop "an abacus for the next millennium."
: Novell, whose communications and networking systems are
: also subject to Microsoft licensing fees, is working with
: top chemists on a chemical-based message-transmission
: system. Hewlett-Packard is developing a revolutionary new
: hydrogen-powered printer.

: Despite the swarm of protest, Gates is standing his ground,
: maintaining that ones and zeroes are the undisputed
: property of Microsoft.

: Above: Gates explains the new patent to Apple Computer's board
: of directors.

: "We will vigorously enforce our patents of these numbers,
: as they are legally ours," Gates said. "Among
: Microsoft's vast historical archives are Sanskrit cuneiform
: tablets from 1800 B.C. clearly showing ones and a symbol
: known as 'sunya,' or nothing. We also own: papyrus scrolls
: written by Pythagoras himself in which he explains the idea
: of singular notation, or 'one'; early tracts by Mohammed
: ibn Musa al Kwarizimi explaining the concept of al-sifr, or
: 'the cipher'; original mathematical manuscripts by
: Heisenberg, Einstein and Planck; and a signed first-edition
: copy of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being And Nothingness. Should
: the need arise, Microsoft will have no difficulty proving
: to the Justice Department or anyone else that we own the
: rights to these numbers."

: Overheard: "Gates' salary also has lots of zeroes. He's
: the richest man in the world, and is about to get a lot
: richer."

: According to experts, the full ramifications of Microsoft's
: patenting of one and zero have yet to be realized.

: "Because all integers and natural numbers derive from one
: and zero, Microsoft may, by extension, lay claim to
: ownership of all mathematics and logic systems, including
: Euclidean geometry, pulleys and levers, gravity, and the
: basic Newtonian principles of motion, as well as the
: concepts of existence and nonexistence," Yale
: University theoretical mathematics professor J. Edmund
: Lattimore said. "In other words, pretty much
: everything."

: Lattimore said that the only mathematical constructs of which
: Microsoft may not be able to claim ownership are infinity
: and transcendental numbers like pi. Microsoft lawyers are
: expected to file liens on infinity and pi this week.

: Microsoft has not yet announced whether it will charge a user
: fee to individuals who wish to program using such
: mathematically rooted functions as addition and
: subtraction.

: In an address beamed live to billions of people around the
: globe Monday, Gates expressed confidence that his company's
: latest move will, ultimately, benefit all humankind.

: "Think of this as a partnership," Gates said.
: "Like the ones and zeroes of the binary code itself,
: we must all work together to make the promise of the
: computer revolution a reality. As the world's largest
: software company, Microsoft is the zeros. And you, the
: millions of consumers who use our products, are the
: ones."