The prospect of this patent application resulting in a patent that can be successfully litigated is zero. (IANAL, TINLA.)
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220040230959%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20040230959&RS=DN/20040230959 The principal "inventor" himself is less than impressed with his employer's attempt to patent such a triviality, which is in any case long since part of the prior art. http://www.panopticoncentral.net/archive/2004/11/20/2321.aspx Blame Microsoft for stupidity if you like, but IMHO the rapacity award goes to Woodcock Washburn LLP. Filing such a patent application is such a waste of the time and money of everyone involved, and will result in so much abuse heaped on the participants if it is not quietly abandoned, that it's hard not to see it as a political maneuver on someone's part (perhaps against IBM, whose participation in the patent system is far larger than Microsoft's). An attorney who would play ball with such a stunt is risking public excoriation of himself and his firm. Cheers, - Michael (IANAL, TINLA)