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                    *          DB/C Newsletter          *
                    *           November 2006           *
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                              News and Comments

     Two developments in the computer industry are worthy of note.
The first is another case of a ridiculous patent being granted by the
US Patent Office.  It is patent number 6,988,138 titled "Internet-based
education support system and methods" which is owned by Blackboard, Inc.
In a nutshell, the patent covers most of what is today called e-learning
in higher education and secondary schools.  On the day Blackboard announced
the awarding of the patent, it sued a competitor for patent infringement.
Several companies in the education market would be put out of business if
the patent is upheld in the upcoming court battles.  What is truly scary
is that the patent office granted the patent in the first place.  It is
very general (it's not limited to Internet-based applications), and it
covers many aspects of education software that have been in use in both
free and commercial software for many years.

     The second news item worthy of note is related to the announcement by
Microsoft that Windows Vista and Office 2007 are complete and will begin
shipping to customers very soon.  Windows Vista is pretty much a non-event.
It has a new look, and is more expensive, but otherwise shouldn't have too
much effect on DB/C software.  Office 2007 is what's important.  Microsoft
has defined a new graphical user interface, and intends to license its use.
Office 2007 no longer contains the menu bar, a tool bar, or floating tool
windows.  All have been replaced by what Microsoft calls "the Ribbon", and
what is essentially a tab group at the top of the active window.  The Ribbon
contains all of the things previously found in the menu bar, tool bar and
floating windows, except for the actions under the File menu bar item which
are now found in a drop-down from a circular button in the upper left corner
of the window.  It's a major change.  What's not surprising is that Microsoft
is trying to control such a look and feel by requiring anybody who writes any
software using "the Ribbon" concept to obtain a license from Microsoft.  If
you are building software that does not compete against Office, then the
license is free, but you must contractually agree to the style guidelines
that Microsoft defines.  If you are making word processing software,
spreadsheet software, or any other software that competes with Office,
then Microsoft will not grant you a license.  I'm not sure how this will
play out, but I suspect it is not a good thing.  And, for what it's worth,
I think the Ribbon is actually a good idea.  I'm just not sure how many
developers will accept being constrained by Microsoft's license.

     We continue to work on DB/C DX 15.  We'll let you know when we have
software available for testing.

                                                     don.wills@dbcsoftware.com

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                          DB/C DX Class Schedule

   Class:     DB/C DX Fundamentals
   Date:      January, 2007
   Location:  Woodridge, Illinois

For information, send email to admin@dbcsoftware.com.


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