In MS's defense, often these sorts of patents are intended to fail so that nobody else can succeed subsequently. It's much cheaper to churn out designed-to-fail applications in areas you already dominate, especially since a patent application involves an examiner review that prevents claims you infringed knowingly if the examiner didn't spot the breach either. Now that software patents are reduced to anti-competitive maneuvering between big companies who like the staus quo because it also creates barriers for small dudes, only legislative change has a hope now- or collective defiance from the community if lawmakers are too busy arguing over whether Palin's baby actually is Bristol's.