Re: [As-users] software patent regarding pager
[ ] (warum.darum@gmx.de)
Sat, 15 May 2004 20:12:05 +0200
Hello!
There is are some anti-globalisation activists in Attac Germany=20
(www.attac.de), who are working on software patents. I forwarded Niklas'=20
message to their mailinglist (attac-wissensallmende-aktive@listen.attac.de)=
=20
and got a mail from Cristian Pietsch (pietsch@coli.uni-sb.de) back (see=20
below).
Bye,
Laura
=2D--------- ### Forwarded Message ### ----------
Hallo Laura und Aktive,
ich schreibe das mal auf Englisch, damit Du es gleich weiterleiten
kannst:
In the case of the Microsoft patent application for the "Virtual
Desktop", proving prior art is trivially easy. Here's a handy short
link I created: http://tinyurl.com/2q76j
It is well known in the Unix community that the virtual desktop first
appeared in the Solbourne window manager (swm, also known as ParcPlace
window manager) programmed by Thomas E. LaStrange. Solbourne was a
manufacturer of computer workstations and suitable software (just like
Sun). It can still be downloaded from the X Consortium's file server:
ftp://ftp.x.org/R5contrib/swm.tar.Z
Unpack it, and look in the man directory for more information. The
manual file swm.1 of this distribution dates from February 26, 1992.
> man swm
=2D---- begin manual page ----
SWM(1) SWM(1)
NAME
swm - ParcPlace window manager
SYNOPSIS
swm [-single]
DESCRIPTION
swm is an X Window System window manager with a user-config=AD
urable look-and-feel. It comes with standard configuration
files for the OPEN LOOK, Motif, uwm(1) and twm(1) styles. It
also provides a "virtual desktop" facility, whereby the size of
the screen is effectively expanded, areas off-screen being
brought into view by panning up, down, left, or right. Users
may specify one of these packages, add their own extensions, or
build something entirely different.
[...]
=2D---- end manual page ----
Also included is a scientific paper by Thomas E. LaStrange presented
at the 1990 Usenix conference (usenix_paper.ps) that further explains,
(from the abstract)
swm is a policy-free, user configurable window manager client for
the X Window System. Besides providing basic window manager
functionality, swm introduces new features not found in
existing window managers. [...] Its major advantage over other
window managers is a feature called the Virtual Desktop. The
Virtual Desktop effectively makes the X root window larger than
the physical limits of the display and can be panned in a
number of ways, including scrollbars, a panner object, or
window manager commands.
Section 6 further explains the concept of a "Virtual Desktop". There
is also a footnote stating, "Virtual Desktop is a trademark of
Solbourne Computer Inc."
Other places in the WWW confirm that the swm introduced this
functionality. To name a few:
http://cns.georgetown.edu/~ric/wm/
http://www.luv.asn.au/overheads/winmgr.html
http://www.decus.de:8080/HELP/TVTWM/VIRTUAL_DESKTOP
Personally, I've been a user of a newer piece of software by Thomas
E. LaStrange, tvtwm. Here's the section of its manual page that
pointed me towards swm:
> man tvtwm
=2D---- begin manual page ----
TVTWM(1) TVTWM(1)
NAME
tvtwm - Tom's Virtual Tab Window Manager for the X Window Sys=AD
tem
SYNTAX
tvtwm [-display dpy] [-s] [-m | -M] [-k] [-f initfile] [-v]
DESCRIPTION
Tvtwm is a window manager for the X Window System based on the
X11R5 version of twm. It includes a ``Virtual Desktop'' fea=AD
ture that effectively makes the root window of the screen
larger than the physical limits of the display. To change as
little as possible in this manual, from here on the window
manager is referred to as twm.
[...]
VIRTUAL DESKTOP
The Virtual Desktop feature of tvtwm was modeled after the
same feature in swm (Solbourne Window Manager). The Virtual
Desktop effectively makes the ``root'' window of the display
larger than the physical screen size. The Virtual Desktop is
panned in one of two ways, either by executing one of the
f.scroll commands or by using the panner.
The panner is a special window that shows a miniature view of
windows on the desktop. The small windows in the panner will
have the same colors as the titlebars and icons of their asso=AD
ciated client windows. The panner is very simple to operate.
Mouse button one, pressed inside the panner, allows you to
move the outline indicating your current view on the desktop.
Releasing the button will reposition the desktop to the point
at which the outline is displayed. Mouse button two, pressed
in one of the small "virtual" windows, allows you to move the
small window to another portion of the desktop. If during the
move operation, you would like to place the window in your
current view of the desktop, simply moving the pointer out of
the panner will result in the window outline changing from the
small outline to a large outline showing the dimensions of the
client window. The converse is true of any move operation
started outside of the panner: if the pointer is moved into
the panner window, the outline will change to a small outline
allowing you to place the window anywhere on the desktop.
Another feature of the panner is that if you resize it, the
Virtual Desktop will resize a corresponding amount. During
the resize, the dimensions shown reflect the Virtual Desktop
size.
There are two hints that client windows may use when asking
the window manager to position top level windows: User Speci=AD
fied Position (USPosition) and Program Specified Position
(PPosition). tvtwm handles each of these two hints in a dif=AD
ferent manner. If USPosition hints are set, the window will
be placed at the pixel location requested. If PPosition hints
are set, the window will be placed at the requested location
plus the offsets of the current Virtual Desktop position. For
example, if the desktop is positioned at +100+300 and a window
is mapped at +100+100 with PPosition hints set, the window
would be placed at +200+400 on the Virtual Desktop.
Along with the Virtual Desktop comes a concept called
``sticky'' windows. Sticky windows can be thought of as stuck
to the glass of the display. Sticky windows do not scroll out
of view when the desktop is scrolled.
=2D---- end of manual page section ----
Greetz,
Cristian
=2D-
Cristian Pietsch
http://www.attac.de/saarbruecken
=2D------------------------------------------------------
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