A big patent to lose: web embedded code

Microsoft just lost a patent case for more than $500M. What's important is that this patent was for code and apps embedded within web pages. Although REBOL itself does not violate that patent, this case is nontheless significant for the Web. It puzzles me a great deal why attorneys for Microsoft could not find sufficient prior art on this patent, esp. consdering the $ amount of the claim. Here's the patent summary for US Patent 5,838,906: Summary: Distributed hypermedia method for automatically invoking external application providing interaction and display of embedded objects within a hypermedia document. Abstract: A system allowing a user of a browser program on a computer connected to an open distributed hypermedia system to access and execute an embedded program object. The program object is embedded into a hypermedia document much like data objects. The user may select the program object from the screen. Once selected the program object executes on the user's (client) computer or may execute on a remote server or additional remote computers in a distributed processing arrangement. After launching the program object, the user is able to interact with the object as the invention provides for ongoing interprocess communication between the application object (program) and the browser program. One application of the embedded program object allows a user to view large and complex multi-dimensional objects from within the browser's window. The user can manipulate a control panel to change the viewpoint used to view the image. The invention allows a program to execute on a remote server or other computers to calculate the viewing transformations and send frame data to the client computer thus providing the user of the client computer with interactive features and allowing the user to have access to greater computing power than may be available at the user's client computer. -Carl