royfang Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 I am so addicted to random or systemized searching in internet over the past 4 years, and recently I decided to put my big5.com domain in use and build a zip-based search site using a so called "no-brainer URL" technology. The idea is simply to have people add their 5-digit zip code to the domain name and get transported to a portal page where all the amenities in that zip code area is convinently list as hyperlinks. While searching for interesting or useful site to prepare my link pages, I came across the GeoCaching.com site, and of course, the concept of much healthier caching activities. My pledge today is to start geocaching right away, and I did make a trip to fry's searching for a GPS. I will not give up the fun and thrill of internet search, and will continue to build my website, but then, I will make my website useful for all geocachers. Roy Fang Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 [edited] I was a bit mean in my previous post. However your patent application is a bit, well, obvious for someone in the business. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Link to comment
royfang Posted June 24, 2003 Author Share Posted June 24, 2003 have I missed something ... the "mean" one? well, been through this kind of discussion so often ... if you like, I can link you to some Big-Blue "patented" technology which are even more obvious than the no-brainer. Glad to know you Jeremy: http://big5.com/cupertino/ca/roy/fang http://big5.com/408-252-9723 Roy Fang [This message was edited by Roy Fang on June 24, 2003 at 07:04 PM.] [This message was edited by Roy Fang on June 24, 2003 at 07:05 PM.] Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 I'll give you an example. In 1998 when I was working at Microsoft I came up with the idea to take your standard 404 error and have it redirect to a page which did some database query work. The reason why I needed to do this was because I had integrated VSS (Visual Source Safe) so you could drop files into VSS and it would create a web site based on the project folder. It worked great, but I took it one step further so if you typed anything (like, say, www.somewebsite.com/jeremy) it would redirect you to the user's vss tree if it existed. That way someone would be able to enter in an arbitrary directory and it would send you there. It all worked through the 404 error redirect in IIS, which passes all of the information about the location the user was attempting to reach. The database query could then pick from alternative locations and redirect you there. (Now that I think of it, I should revive the code) After I was done I submitted it to the R&D department at Microsoft and they thought it was pretty cool. Nowadays you can type just about anything in the URL at www.microsoft.com and it will try and help you find what you need. If nothing is predefined it does a search engine query. I don't know whether the idea of directory queries is attributed to my work in 1998 but I do know the idea existed at least that far back. It is certainly true that there are a lot of really dumb patent applications out there, much of them submitted just to see if they could get away with it. I'm assuming by your response that you agree that your "no-brainer" patent is, indeed, a no-brainer. Jeremy Irish Groundspeak - The Language of Location Link to comment
royfang Posted June 24, 2003 Author Share Posted June 24, 2003 Dear Jemery, I hope you'd agree that patent is not about great ideas or something you invented but kept it to yourself as a secret (or the company did that)! It's about publishing it and surviving public scrutiny. With another no-brainer URL, you will see that almost all live websites today may have violated this Big-Blue patent. And ironically, that includes the USPTO's search engine: http://pat.dog.to/6192415 I am sure you know that MS did something terrible to the Realname.com concept. The way you described is not via an open protocol like the previous IE+Realname.com approach, it's now something added to the browser and channeled through backdoor, and that's why MS has to make it an option just to avoid another anti-trust challenge. Brainer or no-brainer, I hope you'd enjoy what I have lined up for everyone at: http://big5.com/GeoCaching Yours, Roy Fang [This message was edited by Roy Fang on June 24, 2003 at 10:42 PM.] Link to comment
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