What is it with telecoms arguing that they have a patent on basic WWW technology? BT tried it first, suing Prodigy over what BT said was a patent on hyperlinks. Not suprisingly, BT lost. Now SBC is saying that they have a patent on framed navigation. *sigh* I believe they will lose too, because they don't have much of a case either, but since I don't use frames, I don't care as much about them as I do about hyperlinks.
I can't imagine what would have happened if BT had, in fact, won. The WWW couldn't exist without links, and there simply is no other alternative. It would be even worse than Microsoft's monopoly, since there really isn't any choice in this matter. Depending on what kind of licensing fees BT wanted to collect from consumers, it could drive smaller ISPs (who couldn't handle the licensing fee or the threat of a lawsuit) out of business.
Oh, speaking of Microsoft, I have a new insult: "How Microsoft is that?"
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