In re Bilski: Tangibility Gone “Meta”

This is really important. The patent process is about come to grips with a fundamental property of software that is going to surprise them greatly. We're not even sure what software really is.

They used to just assume the computer was a machine and software was the gears inside. This lead to all sorts of nonsense.

As they struggle with what data is, what it represents, and how its manipulated, they are approaching in the courts from the back side what software engineers approach from the front side when designing software. And wouldn't you know it, its not about 1 click to buy after all. This stuff is hard.