How can Microsoft get away with this?

Question

Microsoft's patent on virtual desktops (US7010755) is unlawful, Microsoft did not invent, develop or own this, as clearly shown on the design diagrams the gnome logo and interface can be seen which was developed for Linux AND NOT Microsoft, so far the earliest instance I can find of Linux having virtual desktops is in 1998 and this patent was filed for in 2002,

I fully understand that Linux and many of its features are under the GPL but that shouldn't mean that anyone can just patent it and claim it to be theirs as it is a direct violation of the GPL

Answer 1

The figures have nothing to do with the claimed scope of the invention. Moreover, the figure with the gnome logo is explicitly labelled prior art (Fig. 1C). If you would like to address novelty, discuss the independent claim. As always with these types of discussions, it is enormously helpful to understand the absolute basics of how to read a patent.

Claim 1 as granted:

Method for presenting multiple virtual desktops in a single graphical user interface formed on a display of a computer system, the method comprising:

receiving an indication from a user to preview the multiple virtual desktops;

displaying multiple panes on the display, each pane containing a scaled virtual desktop having dimensions that are proportionally less than the dimensions of a corresponding full-size virtual desktop, each scaled virtual desktop being displayed with one or more scaled application windows if the corresponding full-size virtual desktop has one or more corresponding application windows that are active, each scaled virtual desktop being displayed with a taskbar with one or more task buttons which correspond to one or more application windows;

receiving an indication from a user to share an application window;

displaying a task button representing the application window in a first virtual desktop in which the application window is opened, the task button being displayed in other virtual desktops besides the first virtual desktop in which the application window is opened and being selectable from any virtual desktop to switch from another running application window to the application window;

receiving a selection event by the task button from a second virtual desktop;

displaying the application window in the second virtual desktop;

removing the presentation of the application window from the first virtual desktop while maintaining the presentation of the task button representing the application window in the first virtual desktop;

receiving an indication from a user to refrain from sharing the application window; and

displaying the task button representing the application window in the second virtual desktop in which the application window is opened, the task button being removed from other virtual desktops so that the task button cannot be selected from other virtual desktops to switch from another running application window to the application window.