Immortal Computing

[bigmacbear]

Heard this morning on KOMO radio that Microsoft wants to patent what it is calling "Immortal Computing", which the folks at KOMO described as a system whereby, for example, a grandmother might set up a service to send birthday greetings to her grandchildren long after she herself has passed away.

Two points on this:

1. I think there's more than sufficient prior art; cron (the Unix standard job scheduler) has been around for decades and can be used to do exactly what is claimed here. There's no reason this patent should be allowed.

2. It seems creepy. I know there is a certain beauty in converting the online presence of one who is deceased into a tribute to his or her memory (handlebear comes to mind), but automated greetings like the ones described seem more than a little artificial. Sort of like John Denver's "Forest Lawn" says:

My likeness cast in brass
Will stand in plastic grass
While hidden weights and springs
Tip its hat to the mourners as they pass

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I'm so with you on this one.

Don't be too surprise if someone in the patent office sees the reality of this and denies MS of this idea.