Sorry folks -- we know that you were looking forward to a future of "pay to play" computing, but it seems that Microsoft's application has been soundly dissed by the patent office. Reasons for the decision include the company's "occasional use of fuzzy terminology" and the fact that much of this stuff has already been patented. Of course, the decision can be appealed -- but for the time being, if you still want to pay monthly for a computer AT&T has a netbook for you.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/02/m...tion-rejected/