Forbes has published a report on Microsoft's latest patent - double-clicking. While the patent only covers hand-held computers, the wording of the patent is causing a furore due to its overly broad and vague terminology.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 27 granted a patent for a "time based hardware button for application launch" in which a click of a button can start different programs if it is clicked once, twice or held down for several seconds.
Mouse-wielding computer users need not worry, as the patent only applies to handheld computers that run Microsoft's PocketPC software -- specifically the method of bringing up different features depending on how many times a button is pressed.
The article can be seen here.