Like any other wildly successful entity, Microsoft faces a lot of charges these days-- both in and out of the courtroom. They've been called ruthlessly anticompetitive, mediocre creators of shoddy software, and a whole slew of other things, too-- but the one thing that really seems to stick in Bill Gates' craw is hearing that his company isn't innovative. You've heard the allegations a gazillion times, just as Bill has: Microsoft never comes up with its own innovations, but instead waits for other companies to lead the way with new technologies and then either buys them out or cranks out a cheap ripoff that succeeds because of Microsoft's virtual software monopoly. Accusations like that can't be helping Microsoft in the "Redmond Justice" trial very much, but perhaps more importantly, they really chafe Bill Gates' billion-dollar buns. After all, after hearing for the umpteenth time that Windows is a lame knockoff of the Macintosh experience, we can see how the "Microsoft is not an innovator" line might be wearing a little thin.

That's presumably why Bill's recent Comdex keynote was essentially an extended demonstration that Microsoft is an innovator. The shining example of this, said Bill, was Microsoft's forthcoming ClearType technology, which is a new way of smoothing fonts on a computer screen; reportedly it produces results much clearer than old-fashioned antialiasing, particularly on LCD screens like those used for laptops and PDA's. Since ClearType's patents are still pending, the technical details of how it accomplishes its magic are still not public, but those who looked on at Comdex were impressed with the shown examples of ClearType-smoothed text. Microsoft may have a real winner with ClearType: a solid innovation that will change the world for the better.

Except that Microsoft didn't actually invent it. At least, that's what developer Steve Gibson is saying, according to a PC World article. After hearing the description of ClearType and how it "splits pixels" in its font-smoothing technique, a little alarm went off in his head. He went digging through his garage and pulled out some old Apple II technical manuals, which confirmed his suspicions: ClearType may actually be using a font-smoothing technique used by Apple over twenty years ago. Gibson then called up Steve Wozniak to "compare notes," who confirmed his suspicions. What's more, Apple not only patented the technique, but it happened so long ago that the technology is now in the public domain. When ClearType's technical specifications are finally made public, we'll know for sure if it's truly a Microsoft innovation, or just another instance in which Microsoft showed up twenty years too late for Apple's party. If it's the latter, you know what that means for Bill: Foot in mouth. Egg on face. All that stuff. (Of course, fifty billion dollars can soothe a world of hurt, so you know who'll have the last laugh.)