Windows 8 isn’t a week old and it has already attracted a lawsuit. Software developer SurfCast is taking issue with Windows 8’s Live Tiles, which it thinks, are too similar to a tile system that it patented in 2004. The Live Tiles make up the centerpiece of
Windows 8’s new interface by providing users with icons that can display up-to-date information about everything from weather to social network updates. Window 8 comes with default Live Tiles, but other applications can add tiles to your collection.
Interestingly, Microsoft also has patents relating to Windows 8’s
Live Tiles. Patent 7,933,632 B2, for example, provides Microsoft’s take on tiles and includes several illustrations of what eventually became the Live Tiles on Windows 8's
Start Page. The Microsoft patent appears to have been granted after the SurfCast patent, but whether SurCast has a real case here remains to be seen.
Joshua Gulick
Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to
Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote
CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for
Smart Computing Magazine. A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for
HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.
