Call for Prior Art [LWN.net]

Call for Prior Art

Posted Feb 17, 2009 13:43 UTC (Tue) by admorgan (subscriber, #26575)
In reply to: Call for Prior Art by eru
Parent article: Call for Prior Art

I would not count on this. Microsoft released a multiple workspace extension in their "toys" group of applications. I use this application at my Windows only work-site. I have been there for 2 years, and I still get people approaching me about this "awesome new feature". A USPTO worker likely would not have the exposure needed to know this has been around forever and a day.

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Call for Prior Art

Posted Feb 17, 2009 14:21 UTC (Tue) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] (1 responses)

Is that (multiple "workspaces" or "desktops" as implemented in most current X11 window managers) the issue here? I recall seeing it first-hand only around 1995 or so in fvwm, if my memory serves. I'm sure the idea is much older than that, but it definitely was not common in 1987. PC:s of the time struggled to maintain just one workspace...

Call for Prior Art

Posted Feb 17, 2009 15:59 UTC (Tue) by AJWM (guest, #15888) [Link]

Not GUI-related, per se, but I first encountered the term "workspace" in a computer context circa 1974 (and it wasn't new then) when I first got my hands on an APL console. An APL workspace is (loosely speaking) a (named) collection of data and functions that can be saved and loaded -- and thus one can switch between workspaces.