OT: M$ applies to patent the web

[David LeBlanc]

Story: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-984052.html?tag=fd_top

Patent:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=
1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='20030028685'.PGNR.&OS=DN/200
30028685&RS=DN/20030028685

Claims
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1. A software architecture for a distributed computing system comprising: an
application configured to handle requests submitted by remote devices over a
network; and an application program interface to present functions used by
the application to access network and computing resources of the distributed
computing system.

2. A software architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the distributed
computing system comprises client devices and server devices that handle
requests from the client devices, the remote devices comprising at least one
client device.

3. A software architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the distributed
computing system comprises client devices and server devices that handle
requests from the client devices, the remote devices comprising at least one
server device that is configured as a Web server.

4. A software architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein the application
program interface comprises: a first group of services related to creating
Web applications; a second group of services related to constructing client
applications; a third group of services related to data and handling XML
documents; and a fourth group of services related to base class libraries.

5. An application program interface embodied on one or more computer
readable media, comprising: a first group of services related to creating
Web applications; a second group of services related to constructing client
applications; a third group of services related to data and handling XML
documents; and a fourth group of services related to base class libraries.

6. An application program interface as recited in claim 5, wherein the first
group of services comprises: first functions that enable construction and
use of Web services; second functions that enable temporary caching of
frequently used resources; third functions that enable initial
configuration; fourth functions that enable creation of controls and Web
pages; fifth functions that enable security in Web server applications; and
sixth functions that enable access to session state values.

7. An application program interface as recited in claim 5, wherein the
second group of services comprises: first functions that enable creation of
windowing graphical user interface environments; and second functions that
enable graphical functionality.

8. An application program interface as recited in claim 5, wherein the third
group of services comprises: first functions that enable management of data
from multiple data sources; and second functions that enable XML processing.

and 34 others claims...

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0009] This invention relates to network software, such as Web applications,
and to computer software development of such network software. More
particularly, this i. invention relates to an application program interface
(API) that facilitates use of a network software platform by application
programs and computer hardware.

Doesn't claim #1 sound a lot like a web server and cgi?

Looks like #4 covers xml-rpc and soap?

#5 could describe 4Suite?

#6 could cover Squid, web based configuration and SSL?

Come to think of it, this seems to cover everything to do with the web...

David LeBlanc
Seattle, WA USA