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Microsoft gets obvious patent for double-clicking

e800 Toshiba Pocket PC

Microsoft has managed to patent the double-click. But not the double-clicking of a mouse on a PC (whew!. Fortunately the patent really only covers double-clicking or holding down a button on a handheld. Which is enough to annoy anyone who has ever double-clicked with a Palm, but the patent is supposed to apply to such a limited context (i.e. on a very specific kind of PDA under very specific circumstances) that it's unlikely (we hope) that Microsoft will ever use it to strongarm PDA and smartphone makers.

PS - Scott over at Tapland has some more thoughts about this.