Extra Click that costs $514 million
Over the past few years Eolas and the University of California have been in legal battles with Microsoft on patent infringement of Internet Explorer’s auto play features. The auto play features of Internet Explorer (IE) let’s the user load flash presentations, Active X programs & plugins and media files automatically on a web page.
According to Eoalas this auto play features of IE is patented technology that Microsoft has been using without paying any royalties and without establising licensing agreement. Thus Eolas has sued Microsoft for $514 million for ‘damages’ and ‘patent infringement.’
Since then, Micosoft has made certain changes to how IE handles flash & media files on a web page. They came up with a quick solution – extra click.
What does this mean to users?
You will need to switch to Firefox browser….just kidding… It will mean that you have to click extra on a web page that has certain media and flash presentations. Extra click is an extra click. It is annoying, it is extra and it is stupid.
What does this mean to web designers or developers?
You will need to trash all your good work…no, not really. You need to adjust your web pages that use auto play features of IE.
For example, if you have a flash presentation you will need to make sure to let users know that they should click on ‘Start’ or ‘Play’ to see your flash or media presentation. Extra click means extra work for web professionals. This is such a BS, but you will still need to take care of this if you want users to enjoy your flash and windows media files without disruption.
If you want to read up more on this, head over to CNET.com.
