MetaMAP patents (was Re: Hot Java is here! And it *rocks*)

mddoyle@netcom.com (Michael D. Doyle) wrote:
> > [attribution lost]
> >
> >P.S: congrats on patent 4847604 - I think I'm gonna be sick...
> >
> That comment is out of line.  Is your problem with the MetaMAP technology,
> or with the fact that software patents exist?  The MetaMAP approach allowed
> me to implement interactive hypermedia in the form of 8-bit paletted
> "imagemaps" on a 256K PC even before the first copy of Hypercard was
> available for the Mac.  The fact that it is a particularly effective
> solution for Web-based imagemaps does not diminish the validity of the
> patent.

And the validity of the patent makes it completely
unsuitable for Web-based imagemaps:  this technology 
has zero chance of being selected for standardization 
by the IETF or W3O because of the patent.

And that's too bad; MetaMAP is a neat idea.  Fortunately there's
still quadtrees and fully-discretized quadtrees, which have similar
performance characteristics and space requirements and are
(as far as I know) not patented.


--Joe English

  jenglish@crl.com

Received on Wednesday, 29 March 1995 12:13:41 UTC