Microsoft Patenting Data Longevity (Reblog)

I find Microsoft's patent application for "immortal information storage" particularly amusing given that its success is built on ephemera. Not to single them out -- the entire computer software industry really wants consumers to have to throw everything away on a regular cycle to keep their income flowing. And again, why are things like this patentable? Our patent system needs reform, if not in exactly the way that Microsoft desires. Organizations like the Public Patent Foundation clearly need more money.