🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <ERU.91Feb25203738@tnvsu1.tele.nokia.fi>, eru@tnvsu1.tele.nokia.fi (Erkki Ruohtula) writes:

|> The article describes the patented technology as allowing a window to
|> store what it covers in another window and then repaint what was stored
|> when deeded again. AT&T is reported to consider the backing store a
|> "crown jewel" of its patent portfolio, one of the few of its 2000-3000
|> software patents that it expects to return some of the R&D investment.
|> Unigram.X says that the fundamental technology originated in Xerox PARC
|> in the 1970s, but Xerox consciously decided not to patent it. The X
|> consortium is expected to legally fight AT&T:s claims, and believes it
|> is on strong ground.

Xerox did indeed use this technique when I worked there in 1979-1984.
It was used not only at PARC, but also in the Xerox System Development
Division (SDD), producers of the Xerox Star Workstation.  We called 
it a "bitmap under";  any window could have one, but in practice it
was used mainly for pop-up menus.  I'm pretty sure it was used in both
the Mesa Development Environment and the Star product itself.

Many of the DEC people who helped MIT produce X Version 11 formerly  
worked at Xerox SDD during the late 1970's and early 1980's.  It's
not surprising that the "bitmap under" concept found its way into X.
AT&T is crazy if they think they invented it.

/Ron Newman